


Crash Course in Love

by Zillion_thoughts



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidents, Aged up Plance, Alternate Universe - School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Lance (Voltron) is a father, Mild Hunk/Shay, Mild Matt/Allura, Some drinking mentioned, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, struggling to get by
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-15 05:50:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12315009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zillion_thoughts/pseuds/Zillion_thoughts
Summary: After his ex left him, Lance has tried his hardest to be the best single parent he possibly could be for his young daughter.However, sometimes he forgets. It's hard for an overworked man.But he doesn't mean to curse in her presence.And he especially doesn't mean for her to repeat his words to her science teacher, who's already struggling with her own problems.





	1. We have a G-rated audience, don't say that!

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I bleep out my swear words a bit. It's my thing.

Pidge Gunderson pinched the bridge of her nose, shoving her glasses up her face. _Why, why,_ why _was she teaching a class of idiotic seven-year-old kids who didn’t seem to give a damn about science?_

_Because you need the money. You won’t be able to pay off your taxes._

_Right._

Pidge hated her afternoon job. She could tolerate her sixth-graders – after all, some seemed more than interested in science, even though the rest behaved immaturely – but the second-graders? They were incredibly difficult some days.

            Today, apparently, was one of those days. It didn’t help that she’d skipped out on her morning coffee and still had to grade at least two dozen homework assignments, and her pupils were too restless from the bake sale at lunch. So far, she’d snapped at three boys who kept jumping out of their seats, separated a pair of squabbling girls, and spent a good ten minutes scrubbing an acrylic paint stain on a careless student’s shirt. Not to mention that irrational girl at the back of the class who kept questioning _every single fact the teacher stated._ Her nerves were nearly shot, and when the bell rang, she almost fell to her knees and started blessing the object. However, she demanded that each child had to clean up after his or her selves, and right before she’d left, said irrational girl kicked the front desk, toppling the rest of the acrylic paint.

 _Sh*t_.

Pidge lost it. “Bella, come here _now_ ,” she snarled. Whipping out a neon colored sticky note (a real eyesore), she scribbled down the words _You’d better learn how to discipline your child, because I want her to come back tomorrow with an eager learning attitude, not an urge to kick the furniture_. Slapping the note onto Bella’s school folder, Pidge said to her, “I want you to give that to your mom or dad, and have one of them sign it. Bring it back tomorrow, _do not lose it_. Understand?”

Bella blinked her blue eyes once before speaking. “Yes, Miss Gunerson,” she replied, encouraging Pidge to nearly smack her forehead with her palm. _Gun **d** erson, with a d. _Deep down, she knew she was being unfair, but the mess of dye staining the floor didn’t make her think so.

At least she didn’t have playground supervision today.

                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bella was hanging off the jungle gym when she saw her dad’s familiar blue car pull up. “My dad’s here,” she told her friends, then jumped off the climbing structure, picked up her backpack, and ran across the playground to the parking lot.

Lance was tired. Really, really, tired. As he parked in the elementary school parking lot, he could see the dark circles underneath his eyes in the rearview mirror. Working two jobs definitely paid more money, but the timings were absolute crap. A good eight hours in the afternoon, and then five at night? _If I didn’t need the money, I’d quit,_ he thought _._ But when he saw his daughter sprinting towards the car, her hair coming undone from its neat braid and sneakers slapping against the concrete, he smiled. It was worth it to be able to properly dress her, and send her off to a good school, and hear how she was making so many friends, and learning so many new things, and……….

Just because the world had dealt him a curveball didn’t mean his daughter needed to face his hardships along the way.

Lance stepped out of the car, and Bella rammed right into him, squeezing his waist. “Hi, Daddy.”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, gorgeous.”

“Dad, how was work?”

“Let’s get into the car, and then you can ask me.”

It was a ritual. Bella insisted on asking Lance about his day at work _before_ she told him about school. The little girl couldn’t have it any other way.

Lance focused his eyes on the road and turned on the radio, determined to keep himself awake while he drove. Once he almost drifted, and the car swerved violently. Thankfully his daughter had been at home, asleep, so she had no knowledge of the incident. Although there had been no serious damage, Lance resolved never to let his consciousness waver while driving again. “Okay, let’s see.” He worked as a Walmart cashier during the day _and_ into the night. At two different Walmarts. Save money, live better. Right. “Um…..nothing really interesting today, except we found a can of tomato sauce had leaked all over the shelves. So I had to clean up the mess, and a lady said that it looked like blood.” He grinned.

“Ewwww,” Bella said, disgusted. She leaned forward. “Now ask me about my day.”

“Okay, how was your day?”

“It was good. In English, we read a bunch of stories about animals. Our teacher said they were called Soap Fables.”

 _Soap Fables?_ “Uh, I think you meant _Aesop’s Fables_.”

“Yeah. That. And then, during math, we had to add and subtract with _really big numbers_ , Daddy!” Bella waved her hands. “There were _four numbers_ in a number for _all the numbers_!”

“Wow. That is a lot.” Lance wasn’t exactly bored with his daughter, but her bubbly talk was lulling him to sleep more than the droning radio. He started to drift again.

“…….really mad at me.”

“Mm-hm, really mad at you…….really mad at you?” Lance frowned. “Wait, what? Who?”

“My science teacher. She gave me a note because she said I was bad.”

“What? You? Bad?” Now Lance was awake.

“I was asking her questions the whole time because I thought if she was mad or tired, she might not know what she was saying. Like you don’t, Dad. Remember? When you get mad –”

“Right. Not now, Bella. Forget about my behavior. But why’d she write you a note?”

“I kicked her desk because I saw a spider on it. So the paint jar spilled on the floor. But I didn’t want _her_ to kill the spider!”

“Oh….” Lance rubbed his face, feeling the stubble graze his palm. “Okay, show it to me at home, and I’ll figure it out.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

 

As soon as the car parked into the driveway, Bella clambered out with her backpack, and immediately dumped her stuff onto the couch as soon as the two were inside the one-story house. Lance looked around the living room and groaned. It was getting messy again, and he wasn’t exactly sure what to do about the flickering light in the laundry room. Calling the electrician meant more money taken out of his paycheck, which he _might_ have been able to afford, but then again….

“No projects today, Daddy,” his daughter said, pulling her folder out of her backpack. “But here’s Miss Gunerson’s note.”

Lance didn’t hear her. He was tired, stressed, desperately in need of sleep, and already somewhat irritated, but had only a half hour before returning to his day job.

And then the evening. He pressed his palm into his eyes. Wasn’t there that one bottle of liquor…..

“Daddy?”

No. He had to be a good father.

“Hmm?” Lance mumbled. Thinking about his job – thinking about the necessities of the future, in fact – had depressed him. Now he felt sore and cranky.

“Here’s the note.”

Bella was holding out a neon green sticky note, which appeared blinding to her dad’s eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut before opening them and reading the note.

 _You’d better learn how to discipline your child, because I want her to come back tomorrow with an eager learning attitude, not an urge to kick the furniture_.

Lance reread it twice to make sure he was understanding it correctly.

Anger surged inside of him.

He exploded.

“ ** _What the f*ck_**?! _DISCIPLINE YOUR CHILD? URGE TO KICK THE FURNITURE?!_ ” Lance was losing control. Usually he was pretty composed when it came to stressful situations, but _no one_ insulted his daughter. _No one_. “Who does this f*cking teacher think she is?! The NERVE of this woman! I discipline my child in my own way, thank you, and she’s the most perfect angel on earth, and if you can’t see that she’s trying her best, you b*tch, then you don’t DESERVE to teach her!” Lance was screaming at the note while his daughter watched him in shock. He began to spit out a variety of curses, both in English and Spanish, and all of them directly aimed at Bella’s science teacher.

After he ran out of steam, he took a couple of breaths, then realized: He’d just swore in front of his seven-year-old daughter.

Sh*t. After he promised not to cuss in her presence, too.

He looked at her, wide-eyed, and took a deep breath. “Sorry, Bella. Just – just ignore what I said, okay? I’ll sign the note. Here.” He grabbed a pen and hastily scrawled _Lance McClain_ across the bottom. “But-” He put his hands on her shoulders and knelt down. “I want you to remember – you are perfect to me, okay? No matter what your teachers or friends or _anybody_ says. I love you, no matter what.”

The little girl nodded. “I love you too, Daddy.”

                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 _F*ck this job_ , Pidge thought angrily. After dealing with moody, prepubescent pupils all morning, she was in a much worse mood than she had been yesterday. All she wanted to do was drive straight home, sleep, and never worry about bills or schoolwork again.

But reality jarred her body during the second-grade’s science class. They actually weren’t too impish today, but they were still energetic seven-year-olds. She looked at the clock. Three minutes before the bell. _What the hell, I’ll let them all out early_ ….

But before she could act on this decision, Bella raised her hand. “Miss Gunerson?”

 _Oh, for the love of_ ……. “Yes?”

Bella wriggled out of her chair and plodded up to the front desk, disciplinary note clutched tightly in her fingers. She stuck it out for Pidge to see. “Here. My dad signed it.”

“Thanks, Bella,” Pidge replied in a strained voice, taking the note from her. Then she noticed that the little girl was still standing there, apparently waiting for something. “Bella, what is it _?” Sit down so I can dismiss everyone and enjoy my solitude_.

“Um….” The little girl fidgeted. “Well…..my dad said to tell you something.”

“What?”

“He said….” Bella’s face scrunched in concentration. She was having a hard time remembering what her dad had told her to say and what he had _actually_ said. Unfortunately, she ended up merging the two. “He said that I’m properly raised at home…..and – I’m an angel, and you’re just a f*cking teacher…….wait……no, he said you’re a b*tch – no, he said….uh…..I don’t kick furniture on purpose, and I like learning……..I think he said _mierda_ a lot? About you? I don’t know….he hates you?”

Pidge’s jaw had dropped when she finished speaking, and Bella’s classmates had different responses. Half of them had no idea what she had just said (but understood the whole _he hates you_ line) and the rest of them had that face of horrified delight (“She said a bad word!!”).

At that moment, the bell rang, and several of the kids started to get up and put their folders and books in their backpacks, while others were still watching Bella, who had no idea what she’d said wrong – or right. Pidge tried to manage the class. “Um – class dismissed – playground – parents,” she managed. “Except you, Bella.” After initial shock comes anger. “You’re going to stay inside with me, and – and write the words _I will not curse in class_ twenty times –”

“Curse? What curse?”

“I will not tolerate vile language in my class,” Pidge snapped. “Where did you hear that? Your dad, I’m guessing?”

Bella nodded, her chin beginning to quiver slightly. “He – he told me what to say after he yelled, and – I forgot, because he said not to say what he yelled, and I couldn’t remember – and I didn’t even know what he meant –”

“Okay,” interrupted Pidge. “When your dad – is your dad picking you up today?”

The little girl nodded. “When he comes, I’m going to have a talk with him.” It wasn’t so much the language Bella had uttered in front of the class, but it was the young teacher’s pride, as well as lack of proper parenting, that made her determined to show this arrogant father a thing or two when he came to pick up his child.

                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance hummed a little as he spun the car into the parking lot. He turned off the engine, came out of the car, and…..his daughter wasn’t on the playground? What?

He strode towards the children’s supervisor. “Excuse me. I’m here to pick up my daughter, Bella McClain?”

“Right.” The woman snapped her fingers. “She’s serving detention with Miss Gunderson.”

“Detention?” Lance cried. “What for?”

She shrugged. “Dunno, but Miss Gunderson also wants to have a talk with you.”

 _That f*cking teacher_. Lance gritted his teeth as he walked down the hallways, following the directions the playground monitor had given him. Probably some snooty, stuck-up old lady who grew up alone with absolutely no kids and despised children in general. _Why’d she take a teaching job if all she’s going to do is throw shade at my daughter?_

Lance reached the classroom and rapped his knuckles on the door. _Wait……why am I knocking? If this woman doesn’t show respect to my daughter, then I shouldn’t show her any respect either._ With that thought, he barged into the room _._

Pidge had been clearing up her desk when a man in his late twenties, with a rumpled shirt and five o’clock shadow, banged into the class. So this was Bella’s father. Well, she was the spitting image of him, anyways. Anger stirred in her gut again, especially at the annoyed look on the man’s face.

“Daddy!” Bella said, looking up from her tenth sentence ( _I will not curs in class_ ).

“Mr. McClain, I need to talk to you,” Pidge snapped at him, gesturing for him to go into the hall.

“Figured as much,” Lance quipped, and Pidge narrowed her eyes. Reasoning calmly was now futile.

Once the two were outside and the door was shut, Pidge lost it before Lance could get in a single word. “So I’m a b*tch, am I?!”

Lance’s face paled, but he couldn’t say anything because Pidge was at full steam. “I can’t _believe_ you! What kind of parent swears in front of his _seven-year-old_ daughter and expects her not to say a word out loud?! Thanks to you, Bella just exposed half of the class _and_ managed to partially cuss me out! Oh, but I’m sure you wish you were there too, so maybe you could yell _F*ck_ in Spanish the whole time?! Yeah, I’m not an idiot, I know what _mierda_ means! But you certainly are, since you’re so blinded by doting on your daughter that you can’t realize when she misbehaves!” A logical part of her brain was urging her to _stop yelling curse words, you’re in a school, someone could hear you,_ but right now she didn’t particularly care.

This woman, this young woman with a spiky ponytail at the nape of her neck, round glasses, and a turtleneck, had an attitude that was not calming the sleepless father at the moment. So he retaliated in the same manner. “You know what? You _are_ a b*tch, and I’m sure your students think so too! I have raised my child in the best way that I possibly could, and if you took the time of the day to actually listen to her, maybe you _wouldn’t_ be so agitated with her at times! You had the nerve to write her a sh*tty note she didn’t deserve, and now you’re blaming it on me. So you can rave all you want, _Miss Gunderson_ , but my daughter doesn’t deserve it. Maybe you should quit. Teach again when you can act a little more _civilized_.”

“ _Civilized_ ,” Pidge mimicked, glaring. “Well, you can take _your_ version of ‘civilized’ and shove it up your –”

“Miss Gunderson?”

The two froze, looking down the hallway to see the principal, a tall, ginger-haired man, approaching them. He looked at the two curiously. “What’s going on? I heard shouting.”

“Nothing, sir,” Pidge immediately replied. “Just – um – Mr. McClain is here to pick up his daughter, and I was having a quick – _conference_ with him.”

“Uh….yeah,” the young man agreed, unwilling to admit that he was also using vulgar language so blatantly in a school. “I’ll be leaving soon.”

“Okay,” said the man, observing them curiously. “Well, try to tune it down, okay? And Miss Gunderson – you’re going to be late for tutoring in a few minutes.”

Pidge glanced at her watch as the man walked away. She swore quietly, then shot Lance a look. “You almost got us in trouble with the principal. Happy now?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Lance retorted. “Maybe you –”

“I don’t have time to listen to your crap anymore,” Pidge interrupted, swinging open her door. Bella looked up again, then held out her paper and proclaimed, “I’m finished.”

“Thanks,” Pidge said hurriedly. “Keep it with you, so you’ll have a reminder for next time, and you’re free to go home with your dad.” She finished tidying up and collecting her things, and with a last scowl at Lance, exited the classroom, nearly slamming the door.

“C’mon, Bella, let’s go,” Lance said, glaring in the direction of the door. “I’m sorry you have a very rude science teacher.” He knew, though, that it was his fault. He shouldn’t have cussed so profusely in front of her at home. _Of course_ a couple of words would slip out, especially when she wasn’t aware of their severity.

“She’s not rude, Dad,” Bella countered as they walked towards the car. “She just gets really mad sometimes.”

 _See?_ Lance thought as they pulled away from the school. _My beautiful daughter could be saying that she’s the worst woman on the face of the earth – but she’s not_. The thought of another ‘worst woman on the face of the earth’ suddenly made him elapse into a very moody silence, and both of them were quiet on the way home.


	2. Life's a drag when you're on your own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yeah, sorry this was so late.  
> ALSO! SO! HYPED! FOR! SEASON! FOUR! TWO DAYS!!!!!!!

“No problem, dude, of course I can come. But only for a while. The kids weren’t feeling very well today, and Shay’s already pretty exhausted because she had to chase after them all morning. Thankfully, they just fell asleep.” Hunk eased his car out of the driveway, and headed down the road. He continued to speak to Lance. “What’s wrong? You sound a bit upset.”

“Oh, nothing, just pissed at Bella’s science teacher,” Lance mumbled, glancing over his shoulder to check that his daughter hadn’t heard him. She was too busy cutting out paper at the table to care.

“What happened?”

“I screwed my language in front of Bella, and she accidentally said some – _stuff_ to her teacher, and then I got called in, and we basically had a shouting match.”

“You and Bella?”

“No, the stupid science teacher.”

“Ah. Well, I’m almost at your place. Gonna hang up now, okay?”

“Okay.”

As soon as Lance ended the call, Bella came up to him. “Dad, can we get a pet?”

“What’s wrong with Ivan?” Lance gestured at the small goldfish swimming idly in its bowl on the counter.

Bella wrinkled her nose. “Fish are boring, Daddy. I want a furry pet.”

Lance sighed. “Princess, we’ve talked about this. We don’t exactly have room for a pet, and we also don’t have – the money to take care of one right now.”

“Okay.” Bella’s face fell. “Sorry, Dad.”

“It’s not your fault,” Lance reassured her. He felt horrible whenever she asked for a pet. He knew a lot of her friends had cats, puppies, or even rabbits, and she’d always return home from her playdates with a starry-eyed look, and immediately ask her dad for a pet. He knew their goldfish was somewhat of a poor excuse for one, but an interactive pet meant more material he couldn’t afford. It didn’t help that Hunk and Shay had their own pets, two cats and a dog, and Bella was in love with all three. Even a smaller pet, like a hamster, wouldn’t have worked, because he was unsure his daughter could handle a small creature delicately.

Still, he hated every denial.

“Bella, I’ve gotta get going, okay? Uncle Hunk is coming, you can talk to him for a while,” Lance said, slipping on his jacket and grabbing his keys. Heading out the door, he stopped to say a quick hello to Hunk before getting into his car and driving towards Walmart.

                                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her feet were hurting, but luckily she lived on the first floor of the apartment, so Pidge didn’t have to subject her feet to more torture. Rummaging around in her purse, her shoulder bag banging heavily against her side, she unlocked the door and slipped inside her flat. Her dog, Bae Bae, came bounding up to her, barking excitedly, and Pidge managed a weak smile. “Hey, buddy,” she said, giving him a couple of rubs, slinging her bag onto the couch, then sinking down next to it. She took of her glasses and passed a hand over her eyes, then glanced around the small living space.

Before this, Matt used to live here with her, but ever since he got married, the place seemed emptier. It was so big……and yet, so small. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to keep up with the rent, especially since Bae Bae was with her. Matt’s wife was allergic to animal fur, and Pidge had refused to give up her dog, so she chose to keep him in the flat and brave out the extra cost. Before, she and Matt had both pooled their salaries to keep up with rent and regular taxes, but now that half of that money had disappeared, Pidge was struggling to deal with the consequences. However, every time her brother called her and asked how she was dealing, she always brushed off the question as one of insignificance. And yet – every lie was a rejection of help. She secretly didn’t know how much longer she could hold out. Not eating out anymore. Hunger pangs during the day. Tight clothes. Significant lack of jewelry. Well, that one wasn’t important……

Or how she was lying to her brother about her job. Registering as standoffish Pidge Gunderson to teach in an elementary school rather than exploring new areas of science as prodigious Katie Holt……

She sat up suddenly, realizing that Bae Bae was pawing at the door. Sighing (and forgetting her glasses), she grabbed his leash from its hook and fastened it to the dog’s collar. Wondering why he was so anxious to go right away, she got her answer when she ran into someone on the sidewalk.

“Hey, Pidge.” Keith was about to trip on Bae Bae’s leash, but steadied himself just in time. He jerked his thumb at the dog. “Oh, I forgot to take him out today. Sorry.”

“And Shiro didn’t either?”

“Apparently not.” Shiro and Keith were Pidge’s neighbors. They, too, occupied a flat, but theirs was situated one floor above hers. Keith worked mornings, and Shiro worked in the afternoon, so they each took turns to do a routinely check on Pidge’s dog. Normally she would have hired a systematic dog-sitter, but the two did their work for free, and the pay would have been really stretching it. “Where were you?”

Keith held up a plastic bag. “Groceries. And frozen dinners.”

Pidge groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead. “I completely forgot! I need to go shopping, too.” Bae Bae, who had already relieved himself, was sniffing the bottom of Keith’s bag, and he shifted it out of reach. “Yeah, nothing appetizing in here for you.”

“I’ve got nothing for dinner – well, nothing properly appetizing,” Pidge continued. “Maybe I should try cooking –”

“Uh, maybe not,” Keith said nervously. “Remember what happened the last time you tried to do that?”

“Putting the oven a few hundred degrees up should have worked, according to math,” Pidge protested. “And anyways, it’s not like you haven’t made the same mistake.”

“Got me there.” Everybody was totally confused when smoke alarms had blared from two different locations in the same building.

Pidge glanced at the tether in her hand. “Come on, Bae Bae,” she said, tugging on the dog’s leash.

“Here,” Keith offered, taking the leash from her. “I’ll drop him home for you. It’s the least I can do.”

“Thanks, Keith,” Pidge said gratefully, then headed towards her car, wondering what she needed to pick up. _Okay, cooking’s definitely off my list. I need to stock up on ‘quick bites’ anyways, like fruit and bread. Not to mention…..am I out of Ziploc bags? And what about trash bags?_ Reversing the car, then coasting down the street for several blocks, Pidge turned into the local Walmart.

                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I am _exhausted_ ,” Lance declared, leaning against a closed checkout counter.

“Hmmm, really?” His coworker, Kelly, poked him in the shoulder. The middle-aged woman was holding a stack of towels in her hands, which she thrust at Lance. “Here, _exhausted_ , you need to put these away, and after that, there’re a bunch of dairy yogurt container brands that have just become extinct, thanks to needy customers. The refill’s in the back.”

“Such sympathy you give,” Lance muttered crossly, but dragged his feet towards the home décor section, shoving the towels onto the rack. He sincerely wished he was back at home with Bella, telling her stories so she would fall asleep, and then sleeping right next to her, all worries forgotten…..

But of course, life didn’t work like that. He worried, though, if he was acting out the role of a competent father when he left her in his friend’s care almost every night. At least she never held it against him, and threw tantrums about how he was never around anymore, and how she needed more attention.

At her age and in her situation, he would have definitely done that. But then again, he was the youngest in his family, and he was used to excessive attention. Maybe she was growing up too fast.

He didn’t want her to mature when she didn’t need to. Not just yet.

Lance headed towards the back of the store, through the EMPLOYEES ONLY door, and came out again, pushing the cart of boxed products to the dairy aisle. Opening the flaps, he began to mechanically stack cartons on each section in the chilled rack. He didn’t hate his job. It was okay, although he longed for shorter shifts so he could sleep peacefully. A lot of store drama happened, which was usually entertaining, if not annoying. The coworkers were nice enough at both locations. The customers – okay, most of the time, but………..

Out of the corner of his eye Lance spotted a woman making her way towards the yogurt section. He wouldn’t have given it a second thought, except her turtleneck looked oddly familiar……. He did a double take. She wasn’t wearing glasses, but it was _her_.

_Sh*t._

At least _that_ wasn’t out loud.

 _This cannot be happening. The same Walmart? At the same time? Okay, maybe she won’t recognize me. Right? No one cares enough to look at an employer anyway. I_ really _don’t want to talk to her again. Or maybe I do. Maybe I need to set things straight with her._

_And cause another screaming match, possibly getting yourself fired? I don’t think so._

Lance pretended to be completely immersed in the contents of the cardboard box. _La la la, yogurt brands, Oikos, Dannon, YoKids, Danimals, Yolo…no, that’s not one…….don’t recognize me, I don’t exist_ ….He nearly shoved his head inside the box. Rocking the containers slightly with the tips of his fingers, he waited for the sounds of her footsteps to fade away from the dairy aisle so he could breathe again.

Nothing.

 _Thank goodness, she’s gone_.

Lance shifted his position a little, grabbed a couple of items to restock, popped back up to his full height – and froze when he saw Pidge standing right next to the cart. Apparently, she hadn’t left at all, just stopped, and was waiting for him to unbox the yogurt. Her light brown eyes widened as soon as she saw him.

For a moment the two stared, then Lance blurted out, “I didn’t get you fired, so don’t get me fired.”

Pidge’s face settled into annoyance. “Why would I get you fired? _How_ would I get you fired?”

“Because from what I know about you is that you’re prone to yelling at people,” Lance retorted, avoiding her gaze and instead pulling out boxes of yogurt tubes and stacking them next to each other. _Maybe she’ll go away_.

“I don’t yell at people,” Pidge argued. _I just want to relax, and now this. I wouldn’t have come if I knew he worked here, but what now? I need these groceries. Suck it up and deal with it, Pidge. I’ll remind myself to never set foot in this Walmart again._ “Not unless they deserve it.”

Lance narrowed his eyes, and turned to squint at her. “Listen, I don’t know what kind of teacher you are, but let me set something straight with you: my daughter hasn’t _deserved_ your scolding. Do you know what she said to me today? She said you were a _good teacher_. She could have said you were the worst teacher in the history of school or the universe or whatever, _but she said you were nice_. So yell at me all you want, but don’t take it out on my daughter.”

Even though he was more than half a head taller than her, the young woman faced him with the same level of ferocity and held her ground the entire time he was talking. She didn’t say anything, but slowly the angry expression on her face faded. “Okay,” she said finally. “ _Maybe_ she didn’t deserve it. But _you_ sure did.”

Lance mumbled something under his breath, then said wearily, “Look, I’ve had a long day, and I need to concentrate on my work, or else my boss will think I’m slacking off. So just tell me what you need, and I’ll give it to you.”

Pidge pressed her lips together. “Just some Activia yogurt cups,” she said. “They make a quick meal.”

Lance handed a pack to her, then stopped. “Quick meal? There’s no way those things have enough nutrition for a quick meal.”

Pidge shrugged as she put it into her basket. “It’s all I eat in the morning sometimes. Along with coffee. Sometimes I skip out on it.”

“Might explain yesterday’s note,” Lance muttered.

Pidge huffed. “Okay, can you stop harping on that? I was tired. It was a _mistake_.”

“I’ll stop mentioning it if you start treating my daughter fairly.” Lance folded his arms, abandoning the yogurt.

 _I_ had _to do this today. I_ had _to run out of yogurt today. Curses upon this yogurt._ Pidge raked a hand through her bangs. “Fine, Mr. McClain. I will.” Instinctively, she stuck out her hand.

Lance looked at it for a second, startled, before smothering his surprise and clutching her hand, giving it a firm shake. “Deal.”

Pidge then turned on her heel and defiantly walked away from the chilled produce section to the self-checkout. Her items were sparse: dog food, bananas, coffee, some stationery, corn on the cob, a bread loaf, some spreads, bags, assorted frozen entrees, and of course, yogurt. She tried to never spend more than $60 on food per trip, because otherwise she’d be dipping into rent money. She had a system. A certain amount for food, certain amount for clothes, healthcare, rent, household items, and school supplies. She calculated the right amounts needed that her paycheck could cover, and made sure to never reach past the limits, along with keeping some to the side as a backup plan. _I need a better job than teaching. I need to – need to be able to work in a company or something, something that involves programming or engineering. Anything that might pay more than this teaching job is useful. Honestly, there’s nothing about my job that I’m really devoted to. And now, with this incident……_

She grumbled _. Curse you, yogurt. I swear, it’s all your fault._

                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Lance pulled into his driveway, it was already close to 12:30. Once inside, he saw Hunk sprawled across the couch, snoring heavily. He gently shook his friend awake. “Hey. Hunk.”

The big guy started, then looked around sleepily. “Mmm…..Hey, Lance.” He stifled a yawn. “Sorry. She went to sleep without trouble. Imma go home now…” he said, rubbing his eyes and heading towards the door.

“I can drop you,” Lance offered.

Hunk blinked, then looked at him groggily. “Nah, you have dark circles under your eyes. I’m fine. I get more sleep than you, and Shay drops the kids off to school in the morning. It’s easier with her helping me.” He suddenly realized what he’d said. “Oh…I didn’t mean –”

“It’s fine, Hunk,” Lance said dismissively, though his stomach clenched unpleasantly. “Go home. Get a good sleep.”

After he’d left, Lance checked in on Bella, who was fast asleep in her bed. Her hands were grasping a pillow, and on her bedside table was a book titled _The King with Six Friends_. The book was quite old, and very nice, but looking at it reminded Lance of the fourth time he’d read it to her.

_“Daddy?”_

_“Yes, beautiful?”_

_“Are you a king?”_

_Lance grinned. “Well, I’m the king of this house. And I’m very handsome, don’t you think?”_

_Bella looked at him skeptically. “Maybe….”_

_Lance pretended to take offense. “Maybe? If I’m not handsome, then you can’t be beautiful.” He started to tickle her, and she shrieked with laughter. But when she’d calmed down, she asked him, “If you’re a king, why don’t you have a princess like this one?” She pointed at the pages._

_I do,” Lance replied, trying to play it cool. “It’s you, gorgeous. You’re my princess. And I love you very much.”_

_“Well…….don’t you have a princess you’re_ in _love with? What about…….my mom?”_

_Lance stiffened. Memories of his ex flashed before his eyes, and his light-spirited mood suddenly felt heavy and morose. He remembered all the different stories he’d told Bella when she’d first questioned the whereabouts of her mom, after she’d realized children didn’t usually have only a father. He sighed. “Sweetheart, we’ve talked about this. Your mom and I……..we were in love for some time, and then we……weren’t anymore. It happens sometimes.”_

_"So she doesn’t love me too?”_

_"Bella, of course not. She – she cares about you very much, but she just – doesn’t have time to come and see you,” he explained, feeling the familiar lie roll off of his tongue with ease. “Remember, she lives in another state. If she doesn’t want to visit sometimes, it’s because she doesn’t love me. Not you. It has nothing to do with you, angel. You’re perfect to me.”_

_Bella smiled a little, then snuggled closer to her dad under the covers. “But Dad……don’t you want_ another _princess you can fall in love with?”_

_Lance looked at his daughter, on the verge of sleep. He closed the book, and said very quietly, so that she didn’t hear, “Maybe not.”_

Lance closed the door, then instead of heading to his room, checked his computer. A couple of spam emails, ads, an attachment from Hunk, and…….a reminder about car insurance.

Dammit.

He sighed. Seeing the book and the bill reminder had him thinking about her all over again.

Nyma.

How she’d appeared to him at first, all sweet and curious. How he’d flirted with her, and was thrilled that she enjoyed every pick-up line. How they’d started dating for several months.

How happy he’d felt with her, and how he was convinced they were meant to be together. How he’d been so sure she felt the same way.

And then a couple of nights involving unprotected sex had caused her pregnancy, and the fairytale crumbled. She blamed him. She raged about no protection, no warning, and suffered through the nausea and cravings and pain of carrying a child. It was too late for abortion by the time she actually decided to, which only caused her more distress. The entire time, he was trying to support her as best as he could.

And when she went into labor, she started full-on screaming at him, cursing him out, shouting that she hated him, she didn’t ever want to see him again, and he was insane for putting her through this pain. He took the blows unflinchingly while the hospital personnel tried to calm her, some looking quite shocked. He had been trying to convince himself. He’d clung onto a ridiculous shred of hope that she still truly loved him, and wasn’t just looking to mess around with someone. Of course the latter was true.

Lance crossed the floor to the kitchen, pulled out the stool, and took a translucent-glassed bottle from one of the highest cabinets. He stared at the contents swishing around inside, still reminiscing….

And after their daughter, _her_ daughter was born, she didn’t show any signs of instinctive motherly affection, but as soon as she and the baby could be removed from the hospital, she left him to look after their daughter, and chose to pack up her belongings and move. At least five states away.

He didn’t know how to nurture a newborn without a mom. But it was possible, and he strived to take care of his daughter, feeding her, changing her, putting her to sleep, all while trying to provide for both of them. His parents had to loan him money, and his sisters and brothers. He struggled to pay off his debts, and his ex-girlfriend never lifted a finger to help him. Somedays, honestly? He just wanted to give up. But he’d look at his daughter, with her dark hair, bright eyes, and toothy grin, and he’d realize how much she was worth it. Bella.

His beauty.

Lance sat down, the liquor bottle still in his hand. He rested his head on his fist, and eyed the drink. _I shouldn’t. I’ll get a terrible headache tomorrow, I won’t be able to focus, and what if Bella finds out? What will she say?_

She looked exactly like him.

Which was probably why Nyma was so disgusted with her. Why she disowned her.

Nyma.

_Drink to forget. Forget to drink, remember more._

_Numb the pain…._

Lance removed the cap, held the bottle to his lips, and tilted his head backwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> should I change the rating? I'm honestly not sure.  
> If you haven't read The King and his Six Friends, it's a pretty good children's book!


	3. Friends? Maybe......Acquaintances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we're close to the halfway mark. They're not exactly friends, though. Not yet  
> Sorry for not updating sooner, s4 left me in a Holt coma for a while.  
> 1\. I know Nyma is good, and she's not really this harsh, but I've tweaked her character for this fic. remember, it was planned pre s4  
> 2\. Matt is married to Allura. I'm sorry for whoever opposes that, but I personally love that ship so much.  
> These notes repeat at the bottom.

He paid dearly the next morning.

“Daddy.”

Lance groaned and pushed his face deeper into the couch cushion, where he’d fallen asleep last night.

“Daddy, the big hand is almost on the twelve. It’s on the eleven, and the little one is almost on the eight. You said that’s late, right?”

 _Late, late….eleven, eight………7:50……uh oh……_ Lance looked at his daughter hazily, wincing and putting a hand to his head. “Sorry, Bella, I’ve got a horrible headache….” His daughter was already dressed, face washed, but she hadn’t eaten, he hadn’t packed her lunch, and her hair was messy. He looked at the clock dejectedly. “Oh, f*ck…..”

Bella hadn’t heard him. “Dad, is my lunch ready?”

 _Get up, Lance!_ He heaved his body off the couch and dragged his feet over to the kitchen, trying to ignore the pounding in his head and praying it would go away soon. “Lunch…..” That was priority, right? _Ughh……what was I thinking? A dreamless slumber is not worth this. Get it together. Food, she needs food. Give her breakfast._ “Gorgeous, I’m going to grab you a bagel for lunch, and I’ll drop it off, okay? I – I forgot to pack a lunch. So – so bring me your hairbrush, and I’ll give you breakfast.”

He picked up the phone and dialed Hunk.

“Dude –” Hunk lowered his voice – “Were you _drinking_ last night?”

“No,” Lance protested, though he could hear the lie in his voice. Apparently Hunk heard it too. “Lance…..”

“Look, Hunk, I called to ask for a favor,” Lance interrupted. “I need you to drop Bella off.”

“Shay literally just left five minutes ago with the kids,” Hunk answered.

Lance groaned. “Dude, if I drive this early, I’m going to crash the car. I can barely stand,” he groused, pouring milk into his daughter’s cereal.

“So you were drinking.”

“ _Hunk_ ……”

“Lance, I’m serious. You need to stop looking at alcohol as a source to all your problems. It’s been seven years –”

“ _Not now_ , Hunk. Can you just be here in five? She’s already late. Lecture me later.”

Hunk sighed. “Okay.”

Several minutes later, Lance was pulling back the last few strands of Bella’s hair into a ponytail, then he stroked the long tresses. “Bella, don’t ever cut your hair.”

“I don’t know how to cut hair, Dad,” Bella said, wriggling from his grasp and pulling her backpack straps onto her shoulders. “I like mine long. Like Rapunzel.”

“Well……not that long,” Lance smiled, despite the throbbing in his head. “Or else I’ll have to wrap you up in all that hair and turn you into a burrito. Then Uncle Hunk will eat you.”

“Yuck, a hairy burrito!” Bella squealed as Hunk rapped on the door. After he took Lance’s daughter, the young father sighed and slumped back onto the couch. As much as he wanted to sleep, his first shift started in half an hour, and he knew he couldn’t enjoy a long, pleasurable nap. _I_ really _shouldn’t have drank last night._

                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Twenty minutes. That’s all. I’m begging you,” Lance pleaded.

His boss, Ann, looked at him skeptically. He wasn’t sure if she could tell he’d been drunk last night. “Lance…..you’re not supposed to leave the store during your shifts. You know that. You have a lunch break in an hour, anyways.”

“I forgot to pack my seven-year-old lunch. I’ve never slacked off before. I’ll – I’ll work extra!” he said.

Ann sighed. “No working extra. I’m taking money off of your paycheck. We have an abundance of workers right now, and who knows? People might have to be let go soon. I don’t need you to work extra. I can’t afford to give you more pay for an extra shift.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Lance mumbled, slipping away from her, outside the store, and into the car. He banged the steering wheel out of frustration. Fantastic. Now he had to deal with a decrease in funds.

At least it wasn’t April.

After grabbing two bagels from a deli, Lance drove over to Bella’s school and dropped one off, then proceeded back to the store. In the parking lot, however, he saw a familiar person with their hand on their car door, apparently lost in deep thought. _Hey, look who it is._ For some ridiculous reason, he decided to approach her, even though he had a limited time out and his income on the line. As soon as he got close enough, he could see her distorted reflection on the car metal. If not for the glasses, he would have noted that she was looking incredibly weary.

Pidge was, in fact, tired and worried that morning. Besides the fact that she skipped out on breakfast, her morning with the older students hadn’t gone well, as she’d shouted at them for misbehaving in class. Unfortunately, a passing teacher had heard her and had had the audacity to intervene, threatening to report her if she kept up the “immature behavior” while teaching. _Immature behavior, my a**. That woman should have taught my kids today and see how well_ she _deals with them_.

“Contemplating life, Miss Gunderson? Or wondering if you should have eaten that last burrito?”

_What the hell?_

Pidge swiveled her neck to find Lance watching her, his Walmart uniform still on, a bagel bag clutched in one hand and coffee in the other. Without warning, her stomach burbled. She silently prayed he hadn’t heard anything. Quickly, she replied, “It doesn’t matter to you what I’m thinking about.”

Lance frowned and raised an eyebrow. “Bad mood, huh? Must be because you’re hungry.”

“I’m not hungry,” Pidge snapped. Her gut betrayed her, choosing to rumble again.

“Mm-hm,” said Lance skeptically.

Pidge narrowed her eyes. “Okay. Fine. You got me. I’m hungry. But I have no time to eat, so if you’ll excuse me –”

“No time to eat?” Lance interrupted, looking at her a little concernedly. “Have you eaten _at all_ today?”

“Yes,” she lied. However, Lance continued to stare at her, and her tenacity dissolved. “No.”

“Well…..that’s not very healthy,” Lance said uncomfortably.

“Are you some sort of health activist? Because first the yogurt, and now this.”

“You’re going to become weak if you don’t nourish your body,” Lance declared. “Okay. Where are you going right now?”

“Target. I need some supplies for the science experiment for the afternoon,” Pidge answered. She really didn’t want to purchase provisions, but she couldn’t trust the second graders to bring in everything they needed.

“Fine. Go out to a restaurant afterwards.”

“I – excuse me?”

“Eat a decent meal for once. I’m guessing you don’t usually.”

“What – that’s – that’s none of your business,” Pidge spluttered. Who was this man to tell her how to lead her life?

“You don’t exactly have an excuse.”

“I do, for your information. One, I have to be back here in half an hour, and two, I can’t afford to eat out, okay?” As soon as the words left her mouth, her eyes widened. _SH*T. Why did I say that? He doesn’t need to know how much money I have!_

Lance was slightly startled at the answer, but he had a sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind ever since he’d caught the woman buying only yogurt for breakfast. He sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “Okay. Sure. Whatever. Do what you need to. I’ll leave you alone.” With that, he continued towards his car.

 _Thank goodness_ , Pidge thought as she slid into her car. However, she couldn’t help but feel a miniscule twinge of confusion and disappointment at how abruptly Lance had abandoned his inquiry about her health.

Her questions were solved, though, as soon as she entered her second-grade classroom. On her desk, on top of her papers, was a brown paper bag, stapled at the top. When she opened it for a closer look, a half sandwich, bag of chips, and a miniature water bottle was the sight that greeted her. She recognized the logo from one of the local delicatessens.

Before she could say anything, a voice piped up out of the babble of voices from the students. “My dad left that for you, Miss Gunerson.”

Bella was looking at the teacher with a small smile when one of her friends tapped her shoulder, and she resumed her conversation.

 _No wonder he didn’t say anything_ , Pidge realized as she calmed the chattering class. Obviously, because of the science project and the amount of exertion put into keeping the class in control, she wasn’t able to eat anything yet, but as soon as she dismissed the class, she devoured the food, suddenly realizing how hungry she was. Unable to finish all of it (because she was accustomed to skipping meals), she packed some of it away for the night, then remembered something. Hurrying outside her class, she saw Bella heading down the hallway to the playground. “Bella?”

The little girl turned around. “Yes?”

“Call your father in to my classroom after he comes to get you, okay?”

Bella’s forehead wrinkled in worry. “Am I in trouble again?”

“No, no,” Pidge reassured her. “I just – I just need to talk to him.”

“Okay.”

 

“Hey, beautiful,” Lance said.

“Hey, Daddy.” Bella looked at his face, then frowned a little when she saw his pale, tired face. “Daddy, are you okay?”

“Of course I am, Bella,” Lance said. As a matter of fact, he was not okay. The loss of money was worrying him, even though it was a small sum. But $780 a week was nothing to sneeze at, especially since he was trying to support his daughter as well as himself.

“Oh, Miss Gunerson wants to see you.”

“Wha- again?” Lance said, trying to figure out what she wanted to say this time. _She probably didn’t appreciate you leaving her food. She’s going to yell at you again, and now she might be embarrassed. Why’d you even do it, Lance?_ He felt dismayed again _. Well, it’s not like I go around giving out food for free. I can’t afford to do that! She ought to know that. I’m going to tell her._

As soon as he knocked on the door and she opened it, he opened his mouth to spill the rant he rehearsed on the way to her classroom. But before he could get a single syllable out, she interrupted him with one word: “Thanks.”

Lance stared at her, steamrollered from this unexpected comment. Pidge fiddled with the edge of shirt. “You……you didn’t have to get me a lunch, and I really appreciated it. It was delicious. So thank you.”

 _Delicious? That stuff is average. She must have been starved._ “Um, no problem. Just trying to be supportive and all. Helpful. Yeah.” Lance rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Right,” said Pidge. The rigidity in the room was growing. “Well…..that’s all. Have a nice day.”

“Okay. You too.” Lance was about to go, when he stopped and said, “And listen…..I’m sorry for insulting you. I was having a crappy day, and apparently I misjudged your character.”

“Apology accepted. I’m sorry, too……for yelling at you the other day.”

“Friends?”

“What?” Pidge looked at the single father with an expression of disbelief. He had a sincere look on his face, which slipped a notch lower into disappointment for every second she hesitated. _Friends? We were practically screaming at each other yesterday. What’s up with the sudden_ _change of heart?_

Lance caught sight of her expression and sighed. “Look, I’m not asking to become best buddies with you and all that cheesy stuff. Got one of those already. I just want to stay on good terms. Especially since you’re my daughter’s teacher.”

“Good terms,” Pidge repeated. “Okay. Well…….I have tutoring now, so –”

“Of course,” said Lance, grateful for the distraction. “We’re going. Come on, Bella.”

“Bye, Miss Gunderson.”

“Bye, Bella,” Pidge even gave her a small wave. _Whaddya know, she said it right this time. She’s actually a good kid_.

                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Visit?” Pidge repeated.

“Yeah,” Matt said. “Allura and I wanted to come over for a while. Does Saturday work?”

 _That’s two days from now!_ Pidge scrambled for control. “Matt, I don’t have room to host both of you! And isn’t she allergic to dogs?”

“One visit, Pidge. She can bear with it. Besides, I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

“Can’t I visit instead?”

“I thought you wouldn’t want to leave Bae Bae.”

“I – my place is messy.”

“I didn’t expect it to be tidy. I know what kind of housekeeper you are. It’s just for the afternoon, okay?”

“Sure.”

He heard the annoyance in her tone. “Pidge, don’t be like that. Why are you acting this way? I know you like to keep to yourself, but I promise, we won’t interfere with your studies. I know you’re aiming for that acceptance letter to get into the Garrison.”

Aiming, but the reality cost so much more than what she had to spare. Maybe with Matt, she might’ve had a chance, but now? It was practically unreachable. And she hadn’t had much time to focus except the weekends. It was almost intolerable.

“Sure,” Pidge said again. “I’ll see you Saturday, then.” With that, she hung up. Grumbling, she took dog food and upended the bag into Bae Bae’s dish. He looked at it, whimpered, and then reluctantly began to crunch the pellets. Pidge knew he wasn’t a fan of his dry food, but sometimes, it was the cheapest brand she could find. $27 dollars an hour for four hours a day five times a week, and an extra $40 for two hours of tutoring might have been okay if the frickin’ rent wasn’t always breathing down her neck. Approximately $740 a week was just enough to support her and her dog, along with taxes, electricity, water, and everything else. Unfortunately, she got her paycheck monthly, so by the time payday for her rolled her around, she was struggling to regain her footing in terms of money.

And now Matt was coming. She still hadn’t told him about her job and money situation. What would he think when he found out?

                                                                     ~~~~~~~

“I’m sorry,” Lance mumbled into his hands.

He was at Hunk’s place, sitting on one of the large, soft ottomans. Bella had already gone outside to play with Hunk’s two twins, and Shay was with them, tending to their fruit garden while keeping an eye on the kids.

“Lance, I don’t mind dropping her in the morning,” Hunk comforted him. “But – I don’t like the _reason_ you had me drop her. I thought you got rid of all the liquor and junk in your house.”

“Yeah, I thought I did too,” Lance said. “But…..I checked on her and saw the……it’s……she doesn’t deserve this, Hunk. She doesn’t deserve the parenting I’m giving her.”

“Lance, don’t beat yourself up about that. You’re a great parent…….most of the time. But I think – maybe what Bella needs is – y’know – some _other_ influence.”

“Other influence? She has good friends, if that’s what you’re saying.” Lance looked at Hunk, puzzled.

His friend shook his head. “I mean – what I think she needs is……….”

“Spit it out, buddy,” Lance said, slightly wary.

Hunk sighed, and looked Lance straight in the eye. “I’m saying she needs a female influence in the house.”

“A female influence,” Lance deadpanned. He looked out the window at his daughter, who was currently engaged in climbing the playground structure with Hunk’s son.

“Lance, don’t take this the wrong way, but................I think it would do you both some good,” Hunk said as gently as he could. “Maybe it’s time that you – look for a wife.”

“Look for a wife?” Lance looked at Hunk, and his friend could see the timeworn pain lingering in his eyes. “No. Hunk – no. I’m not in the mood to deal with _women_ right now.”

“Lance, I remember when all you wanted to _do_ was pick up girls. I’m not saying to revert back to that, but tipping both sides of the scale is unhealthy too. You can’t go to two extremes, you have to settle around the middle. You need a sense of balance in your life. And you know, normally I wouldn’t be saying this, but especially with your budget right now – it’s best that you take bigger steps to support yourself. That doesn’t involve working extra, it involves _divvying up_ work.”

“Right, because a woman who’ll actually stay committed, wants to take care of my daughter, and is _actually in love with me_ is right around the corner,” Lance said sarcastically. “I can’t just _get married_ at the drop of a hat. It’s not that simple, and I’m not desperate enough to play the role of a _fool_ again. No.” He stood up. “I have to get going, anyway. My shift starts in an hour, and Bella needs to get home, so she’s ready for bed when you come tonight.”

He opened the screen door. “Bella, we have to leave now.”

“Now?” the little girl pouted. Her friends had similar looks of dismay on their faces at his words.

“Sorry, honey, I have to leave soon. You need to finish your homework, too.”

Bella trudged inside, grabbing her bag a little roughly and started to buckle her shoes. Before Lance could leave, Hunk took him aside and said “Lance, I won’t be able to make next week.”

“What do you mean?”

“My boss has decided to put me on a new shift. It’s temporary, but I go from six to ten, and if it works out, it’ll be permanent.”

“Um….okay, maybe Shay –”

“Lance, she can’t leave the kids here by themselves. It won’t work.”

“Bella can….sleep here? Then I’ll pick her up…..”

Hunk’s wavering look clearly portrayed that he didn’t think it was a good idea.

“Fine.” Lance opened the front door. “I’ll – I’ll figure something out.” He ambled down the walkway with his daughter in tow, a new set of problems in his head.

At home, Bella fed Ivan, who lazily fluttered his tale and fins. She then said, “Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“We’re going to eat at Tree’s on Saturday, right?”

“Tree’s………..wait. I said this Saturday?”

“Yeah.” Bella pointed at the big calendar hanging from the wall. “You said Saturday the twentieth.” She pointed at the big twenty on the corner of the Saturday square.

 _Sh*t. How did I forget?_ Lance looked at the calendar, then at his daughter. “Bella……what if we go next week?”

“No, we can’t,” the little girl protested. “Because you said you’d take me last week, and the week before, and _hundreds_ of weeks ago! You promised this week, Daddy!”

 _She’s right. I did promise_. Lance sighed. “Okay, we’ll go this weekend.” He wondered how he was going to stay on top of everything now. Thank goodness he had already paid his water bills a couple of weeks ago. But it looked like that flickering light in the laundry room would have to wait.

But how on earth was next week supposed to work out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW I made up that restaurant name. I didn't want to use a real name or smth.  
> Do you guys like this so far?  
> 1\. I know Nyma is good, and she's not really this harsh, but I've tweaked her character for this fic. Remember, it was planned pre s4  
> 2\. Matt is married to Allura. I'm sorry for whoever opposes that, but I personally love that ship so much.  
> These notes repeat at the top.


	4. After That Incident, I think We're Starting to Become Good Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long-ish wait. Here's a super-long chapter to make up for it. Or kinda long.  
> I'm at the midpoint of this fic now.  
> ALSO......Apparently Tree's IS a real restaurant. And guess what? It has ITALIAN food. Also it's located in my favorite state. PURE COINCIDENCE. But the Tree's in this fic isn't the same. It's loosely based off of that.

Friday evening found Pidge scrambling around the apartment, trying her best to clean up enough of the area to make it look decent. And by decent, it had to be even tidier than when Matt had been living with her. She knew he wouldn’t bother her much about the cleanliness…......but he _might_ give her hell for lying about the money.

She shouldn’t have told him the lie. But she could bear with it, right? After all, it was only one day. She could possibly afford to go out for lunch with them, and host them for a while at her apartment…….but in terms of dinner, she had nothing. Maybe she could cook something. The fire alarm only went off once. The chances of it going off again because of the same mistake were slim to nil. With that resolution in mind, she dialed Keith’s number.

He picked up on the fifth ring. “Hey.”

“Hey, Keith. I need your help with something. Namely, making dinner.”

“Dinner? No way.”

“Hear me out, please. Matt and his wife are visiting. I have _nothing_ to serve them.”

“But cooking? You? _Us_? I’ll probably make it worse.”

“I don’t think so. Logic dictates that retrying a failed attempt should produce more success than the first try. Therefore, we should be able to manage it without creating a small disaster.”

“Really?” She heard him sigh. “Well…….when you put it like that – Okay. I’ll come over. Give me five minutes.”

“Thanks, Keith.”

He arrived to find her desperately pawing through her pantry, while Bae Bae lounged on the floor, watching her lazily. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to find something to cook with” came her muffled response.

Keith looked at the counter, which had a small assortment of pots and pans spread across the surface. “Do you even know what you’re making?”

A slender arm protruded from the food cupboard and pointed in the direction of the counter. Keith didn’t see anything. “Uh…….”

“Recipe. On my phone.”

Keith grabbed the device and swiped at the darkening screen. It lit up, displaying a simple recipe for lamb shanks. He scrolled through the ingredients and preparation. “Pidge, do you even have half the spices on here? There’s rosemary, thyme, garlic cloves – have you even bought _lamb shanks_?”

Pidge pulled her head out of the pantry, her hair in slight disarray. “No…..” she admitted. “I was thinking – y’know – that maybe I’d still have spices somewhere…..?”

“Apparently you don’t. I think you might need to do some shopping.”

“I know,” the defeated young woman acknowledged.

Keith grabbed his jacket from the couch. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Pidge asked, startled.

“To the store,” came Keith’s reply. “We need to pick up ingredients before we cook, right? Otherwise you won’t be able to _make_ anything.”

“I guess so.” Pidge grabbed her own jacket and followed Keith out the door.

They went in his car, which meant listening to Keith’s choice of music. Slightly monotonous, slightly dreary, considerably emo, but she usually managed to bear with it. He once told her ‘forcing your music standards that I don’t agree on _along_ with dog-sitting isn’t possible.’ She still remembered his expression when she’d tried to get him to listen to a mix of 2000s pop songs. He’d jabbed the power button as soon as the first strains of Kesha’s voice came over the radio.

She hadn’t questioned where they were going, but as soon as he stopped the car, her stomach flipped. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Not Walmart. Turn around.”

“What?” Keith looked at her in disbelief. “Why would we _turn around_? What’s wrong with Walmart?”

Before, Pidge would have said, _One of the employees is a complete a**hole_ , but apparently Lance wasn’t like that anymore. Or at all, ostensibly.

Still, she wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation at the moment. _Especially_ if he wanted to converse. “Uh…….well……..they have bad yogurt,” she blurted out.

Keith looked at his friend quizzically. “Uh….I don’t think the lamb shank recipe _requires_ yogurt,” he said slowly. “It’s spices and meat. That’s it.”

“Right. I know.” They entered the store, Pidge’s eyes darting around vigilantly, until she arrived at the conclusion that Lance wasn’t here. Relief dashed through her body, and she turned to Keith. “Let’s split up. We’ll cover more ground this way, and we can meet up by the cash register.”

Keith nodded. “Sure.”

They both wandered different sections of the store, using only their phones as a reference. Pidge was maneuvering her way across the place, scouting the area for Lance before proceeding. Keith brazenly ignored subtlety and found all the items on his list needed. He did, however, run into a certain Cuban man when he went to go find the lemons. (They weren’t compulsory, but it was a recommendation for flavor). As he gathered a couple of lemons, he happened to recognize the guy standing across the fruit bins. “Lance?”

Lance looked up from the apples. He raised his eyebrows slightly, and the corner of his mouth curved upwards. “Keith. And what brings you to this humble abode?”

 _Yup. Typical Lance_. “It’s a grocery store. I’m helping a friend.”

“So you’re here to take over my shift?”

“I said _friend_.”

“Ouch. We’re buds, Keith. Y’know – cool dudes.” Lance gave him a winning grin.

“….sure. Okay, a friend with more pressing issues than the agony of Walmart.”

“Dude, you won’t ever know what it’s like until you live it.”

“And I hope I never do.” His phone pinged, and he read a text from Pidge that said she was already at the checkout. _Crap_. He still had two more items to grab. He walked away from Lance, saying, “My friend’s already at the counter, and she’s going to get irritated. Goodbye.”

“Oooh, it’s a _she_ ,” Lance teased, but Keith waved him off. If he hadn’t known for a fact that the dark-haired boy was gay, he would have probably pestered him nonstop with personal questions. Or if he happened to know the woman was Pidge. But he let the matter drop.

The shopping was the simpler part of the ordeal. Once at Pidge’s apartment, the _real_ work began.

“Okay, we’ve got three lamb shanks,” Pidge said after she and Keith had washed and dried the slippery raw meat. “What does the recipe say?”

Keith squinted at the screen. “Maybe you should put it up on your computer screen. The directions on here are miniscule. But you have to heat up oil in a pan.”

“Right, that one’s obvious,” Pidge replied as she flicked the knob on the stove.

 _It is?_ thought Keith, but he didn’t want to say anything. Pidge opened the recipe’s website on her computer as Keith chopped up the onions, garlic, and carrots, effectively making his eyes water. He gritted his teeth. “Now what?”

“Uh….salt and pepper on the meat, and then drop it into the oil.”

Keith grabbed the two spices from Pidge and sprinkled a good quantity onto the food, then plopped it into the pan. The hot oil hissed, sprinkling burning beads of liquid into the air, and he jumped back.

“Wait, did you put them all in at once?” Pidge asked, peering into the saucepan.

“Yeah…..”

“It was supposed to be one at a time.”

Keith groaned, then looked back at the sizzling pan. “It looks fine, though. I mean, there isn’t really a difference. They all the cook the same way.”

The oil droplets were still splattering onto the surface of the stove. “Isn’t there something to stop the oil from spilling?”

“Not that I know of. It’s not important, I’ll clean it up later.” Pidge turned her attention back to the recipe. “Sauté the onions, carrots, garlic…….what does sauté mean again?”

“I don’t know…..fry?” Keith was more clueless than Pidge when it came to cooking.

“Okay, then they should have just written _fry_ ,” Pidge muttered as she tipped the ingredients into the pan, which splashed oil much more violently than before. The two drew back in caution. “What now?”

“Everything else?”

“Was that a question?”

“No?”

“Okay….” Pidge dumped the rest of the spices and liquids they’d measured out (not quite perfectly) to the pot. It wasn’t that she hadn’t learned to cook, but when her mom was trying to teach her, she hadn’t displayed much interest in the subject. Maybe if her field of science had been chemistry she would have exceeded, but technology and cooking had barely anything in common. Decent housekeeping wasn’t common to her. Because of her tiny living space, she didn’t always feel a pressing need to clean up all the time.

Keith was rereading the recipe, while Bae Bae was sniffing the air, picking up on the scent of meat. His eyes widened. “Uh, Pidge?”

She heard the apprehension in his voice. “What?”

“The meat was supposed to come out first.”

“ _What?_ ”

The lamb shanks were slowly overcooking. Pidge grabbed a pair of tongs and gripped the meat. “What do I do with them?” she cried.

“Uh, separate bowl.”

“Give me one!”

Keith opened a cabinet (he knew exactly where her kitchenware was) and grabbed a mixing bowl, and she slapped the meat pieces into it. She decided to look at the recipe herself. “Okay. Now what?”

“Put them back in.”

“ _Seriously?_ ” Pidge groaned and looked at the meat. “I think we should leave it out. It’s already been in for longer than it needs to.”

“You have a point. Okay. Um…. ‘reduce heat to medium low, then’…no wait….first ‘bring liquids to boil’.”

“Oh, f*ck the stove and its stupid heat settings,” Pidge muttered as she twiddled the dial a bit, despite having no clue on what she was doing to the food. She ran a hand through her short hair. “Okay. I’m just going to put them back in, because –” she looked at the meat “- it’s not cooked fully yet. The inside is all pink and raw.”

“Sure.”

After more prodding and poking, the lamb was in a platter, and Keith and Pidge looked at each other anxiously. The broth was separate and stored away for tomorrow, and Pidge covered the lamb – but not before taking a small piece and dipping it into the homemade sauce. She shoved it under Keith’s nose. “Try it. I need you to tell me that it’s good.”

Keith took the fork from her, then slowly bit into it and chewed. His face impassive, he looked at Pidge and said, “It’s good.”

“Since I know you’re saying that just because I told you to, what do you _actually_ think of it?”

“Tolerable.”

“ _Tolerable_?!” Pidge tried a bite, blanched, then hung her head. “I’m doomed.”

“Maybe you can start over?”

“Too late for that.”

“Pasta? It’s your best meal.”

“Correction: it’s the _only_ meal I can make, and I’m sure Matt’s sick of it by now.” She sighed. “I’ll just have to serve this to them. You can leave, Keith.”

“Sure you don’t want help to clean up?”

“I’m fine. Thanks anyways.”

After the young man left, Pidge warily began to clean up the kitchen scraps and oil stains, with Bae Bae meandering around the tiny kitchen, still attracted to the lingering smell of meat. _At least the fire alarm didn’t go off this time_ , she reasoned. _Especially with me_ and _Keith cooking. That’s a first_.

_~~~~_

The doorbell rang.

Pidge hastened to the door and tentatively opened it, trying to make sure Bae Bae wouldn’t run out. “Matt!” However exhausted she was, she was still excited to see her older brother, and she threw her arms around him.

“Hey, Pidge.” Matt gave her a hug in return, then released her, and she turned around to face Allura, who also gave her a(n unexpected) hug. “It’s nice to see you, Katie.”

Still unused to Allura’s affection, Pidge returned the hug rather stiffly. “You too, Allura.”

After the two had settled in, with a box of tissues Matt grabbed for his wife as an extra precaution, Pidge sat rigidly on the edge of the couch, focusing on running her hand across Bae Bae’s back. Matt asked her a question about the downstairs neighbors (which the two had always found annoying), and after she answered, she quickly started peppering _him_ with questions, in order to avoid talking about her life and the inevitable.

But of course, there’s a reason why it’s called the _inevitable_.

“Pidge, how’s work going? Where exactly are you employed?” Allura asked, hands folded in her lap. Her gaze strayed to papers shoved into piles and a couple of loose clothing articles shoved away into corners, before concentrating on Pidge.

 _Dammit_. “Well, um, work’s….going great. Nice job, nice people, good pay. Uh, what about you?” Pidge said, trying to guide the conversation to safer waters.

Matt looked at her suspiciously while Allura began to talk about her job as assistant manager of some company, the skirted answer the younger woman had given her failing to arouse any doubts. However, _Matt_ knew his younger sister well. “Pidge, where _are_ you employed?”

“At an educational center. Hey, I thought we could go out to Tree’s for Lunch. I cooked a…. _nice_ dinner, but I thought we could eat at your favorite restaurant since you’re in the area, Matt,” Pidge interrupted, springing up from the couch and crossing over to grab her purse, keys, and coat.

“That sounds nice,” agreed Allura, pulling on her own coat, but Matt approached his sister and tugged gently at her shirttail. “Pidge? Educational center?” he said quietly.

“In the car,” the young woman said, feigning assurance and flippancy, though her stomach was wriggling and a chill of dread had ghosted over her. “We can talk about it later.”

                                                                                                         _~~~~_

“We’re going to Tree’s, we’re going to Tree’s,” Bella sang. The little girl was so excited that she couldn’t sit still while her father tied up her hair.

“Bella…..” Lance said in a warning tone. She got the hint and went stiff, but her feet kept swinging, occasionally hooking her heels on the rungs of the chair. Lance always wanted his daughter presentable whenever they went out. He did the same for himself, of course, but lately he’d been a little careless, and prepped only his daughter at times.

However, instead of her bouncy attitude cheering him up, like it normally did, he felt a small feeling of trepidation. His thoughts were still remaining on what Hunk had told him. _“I can’t make next week.”_ Who was he supposed to get to watch Bella for an entire week? Not a babysitter, because on top of extra money, he didn’t quite trust anyone besides Hunk to be with his daughter until midnight. He _could_ ask Keith, but……they weren’t really that close, and he’d never even _met_ Bella. Plus, he once said he didn’t really like kids. Taking her to work with him was completely out of the question, because she wouldn’t sleep, and then she’d go to school with those small bags under her eyes.

The same ones he tried to cover up every morning.

 _Stop worrying about it right now. Focus on what’s going on. You’re having a fun, father-daughter outing with your kid. Relax_. He couldn’t quite relax. _If you keep this up, Bella’s going to pick up on your behavior_.

Right. He didn’t need that to happen. He needed to shield his daughter from his own issues.

“Dad, turn on the radio!” Bella begged from the backseat.

“What’s the magic word?”

“Please?!”

Lance laughed and flicked it on. “What do you want to hear?”

“Shakira,” Bella said promptly. Having a dad who blasted 2000s pop for his daughter had its perks. Censored, of course. But he definitely enjoyed it every bit as she did.

“I don’t think her songs are playing on the radio, gorgeous.”

“Then put it on your phone and put it on the radio. You can do that, right?”

 _Yes, but data usage_. Lance checked his phone. _It’s the beginning of a new month, so…..why not_. “Um…….which song do you want?”

“Hips don’t lie.”

 _If we keep hearing that one, she’s going to ask me about the meaning again_. “We heard that one last time. How about a different one?”

“Mm.”

“Beyoncé?”

“ _No_. Shakira.”

“Okay. Here, put it in,” said a resigned Lance, handing the phone back to his daughter so she could type in the appropriate song. “But after that, I choose the song.”

Shakira’s _Hips Don’t Lie_ began to play, and Bella cried, “Daddy, you have to sing along with me!”

“I do?” Lance smirked, pleased. “Okay…” He turned up the volume, and began to belt out the words with his daughter.

_Never really knew that she could dance like this_

_She makes a man wants to speak Spanish_

_Como se llama (si)_

_Bonita (si)_

_Mi casa (Shakira Shakira), su casa_

Car karaoke was a favorite for the two, and Bella had been accustomed to the loud volume, especially when the windows were down, the wind was whipping through the car, and the music could still be heard.

As the two sang at the top of their lungs – most likely disturbing a couple of other people on the road – Lance forgot about his problems for a while. A good song could sway a negative mood drastically, and the young man milked it for all it was worth while it lasted. He decided, right as soon as the two pulled up to the restaurant, that he’d have fun with his daughter today, and enjoy their outing. Because, even though he always had problems to face, if he overlooked the small, cherished moments of life, would he ever get to relish the delight of living?

On the other hand, Pidge was much tenser than she’d planned for, and her anxiety increased as soon as they had sat down. She tried to concentrate on the menu, but once she’d caught a glimpse of the prices, a new signal of distress began to sprout in her mind. _Red alert, Pidge, red alert. This is not a drill_.

“Hey Pidge, are you going to order the meatball sandwich _again_?” Matt asked, a hint of humor in his tone. Pidge looked up at him, a little startled, and tried to make her face appear casual. However, even though his attitude was teasing, his eyes still conveyed a suspicious question.

He knew his sister wasn’t a brilliant liar.

Luckily, Allura intervened. “What do you mean, again?”

Matt turned to his wife and smirked. “My little sister may be a genius at many things, but she’s not a genius at food exploration. She orders the same meal _every time_ we eat here.”

“Because it’s good. And I don’t really want to try anything new.”

“I suppose I’ll have to get something besides that sandwich, then, so I can have a variety of different foods to try.”

 _Variety. As in, multiplicity. As in, a large range of food_. _Coming to a restaurant was a stupid idea, and now it’s too late to take it back._ Pidge took a deep breath as imperceptibly as she could. _Okay. Focus. You can deal with this. It’s one meal, one drink, one appetizer. The food isn’t your main concern right now. Your job is_. _If Matt figures out I’m an_ elementary school teacher _…._

                                                                                                           ~~~~~~~~

“Daddy, is it crowded?” Bella stood on her toes, gazing around at the various customers.

“No, this isn’t really crowded, sweetheart. It’s not uncrowded, but it’s not crowded.” Lance inhaled, the scent of fresh cuisine hitting his nostrils. Tree’s was a pretty decent place, but he hadn’t stepped inside for nearly a year. Not much had changed. The lighting wasn’t garish because sunlight came through the windows, the place had a chilled elegance, and the food was savory and filling. As his daughter led him by the hand towards the back of the eatery, he wondered for a moment why they’d stopped coming here.

Then he remembered. Not enough money. Low budget.

Right.

“Dad, we have to sit outside,” Bella told him, leading him towards the patio. The day was filled with cloudy but bright daylight, which made suitable conditions for dining outdoors.

After a quick word with one of the waiters, the two sat outside, the wind teasing the strands of Bella’s hair. Lance reached over and tucked the ends behind her ears, and she squirmed a bit. “Dad, I’m fine.”

“I want you looking decent whenever we’re outside,” Lance told her. “And try not to spill anything, okay? Your dress was just washed three days ago. So just sit still.”

“ _Sit still, look pretty_ ,” she sang, and a couple of people also sitting outside turned their heads. Although they smiled, Lance felt slightly self-conscious, so he told his daughter, “Bella, try to keep the singing low.”

“Okay,” she replied, bouncing in her seat. Whenever she got excited, she tended to forget basic courtesy at times, but her good mood was so infectious that Lance found himself smiling as he looked at his menu.

“Daddy, can I have the chocolate cake?” Bella had flipped over her menu and was gazing at the desserts on the back.

“Not for lunch, beautiful. Afterwards, maybe.”

“Okay, but I don’t want you to decide for me this time, Dad. I want to do it myself.” As the young girl flipped through the menu, Lance mentally placed his order, then looked around at the tall trees flanking the area, the small man-made river rippling in the distance, the people inside the restaurant……

Wait.

Was that – Bella’s science teacher?

Lance half-leaned out of his seat to get a better look. That was her, alright. The large spectacles were a dead giveaway. And she wasn’t alone. Two people sat opposite her, a man who looked similar enough to be a relative, and a pretty dark-skinned woman who bore no resemblance to either of them. Lance settled back into his seat, and pursed his lips. _Hmm. Why did she look so stressed?_

_None of your business, Lance._

“Dad, I want the burger,” Bella said, and her father snapped his attention back to his daughter. He looked at the menu blankly. “Uh……oh. Burger. Um……I’m not sure you’ll be able to finish the whole thing.”

“Yes, I can,” she protested stubbornly.

“Okay, then. Are you sure you don’t want anything else? Fish? A sandwich?”

She shook her head.

After they had placed their order, Lance was torn between watching Pidge interact with the two people accompanying her and answering his daughter’s questions. He almost wished they were sitting inside so that they could hear their conversation.

Not that he was being nosy. He wasn’t.

“Dad, why is it called _Tree’s_? It’s not made of trees, and it’s not a treehouse.”

“Because of all the trees around us,” Lance said, vaguely waving his hand around and almost hitting their waiter who was about to serve drinks.

His perceptive daughter seemed to know something was up. “Dad, what are you looking at?”

“Nothing,” Lance said rapidly. “Just, y’know, viewing the scenery.”

“What’s scenery?”

“It’s the…..”

                                                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt frowned. “Only water, Pidge?” He and his wife held vibrant cocktails in their hands, while ice drifted lazily inside a glass next to Pidge. The three had consumed their meals, Pidge’s being noticeably smaller, and Matt and Allura had both ordered dessert, while she had refrained. “You’re twenty-three – and legally allowed to drink. Plus you’ve had the beverages here before. So why are you settling for less?”

“It’s – too expensive to be added on to whatever I’ve ordered,” the woman confessed. Had it not been for her spontaneous shopping trip with Keith, she might’ve been able to say

Matt’s eyebrows furrowed. “Too expensive?”

“Yes, too expensive. I can’t afford to be paying this much on one meal alone.” The truth was coming out in stuttering halts from her mouth.

Matt leaned forward. “What do you mean, you can’t afford it?”

Allura could sense tension building between the two, and quickly excused herself. “I’m going to the washroom.” As soon as she left, Matt gave Pidge a stern look. “Katie. _Have you been paying off your rent?”_

Not the question she expected him to ask, but a dangerous one nevertheless. “Of course I have! They’d have kicked me out if I didn’t!”

Matt ignored this. Having previously lived in the apartment with his sister, he knew the rent requirements. “On time?”

Pidge fidgeted. “Well…...I’ve done it a couple of days late sometimes……”

“Pidge, where are you _really_ employed?”

The woman sighed and looked down. “I’m a teacher,” she muttered. “My paycheck is monthly, and it comes in the same day my rent is due. Sometimes it gets delayed.”

“How much are you earning?”

“$740 a week.”

“Pidge. You can’t survive on that.”

“Yes I can.”

Matt shook his head. “You, Bae Bae, the rent, electricity, water, food, appliances, clothes – it’s too much. You need to lessen the load, or else you’ll find yourself in hot water.”

She was obstinate. “I can manage it. I’ve been managing it for more than a year.”

“And maybe if Bae Bae wasn’t with you, I’d agree, but Pidge, the pet rent is _expensive_. Where exactly are you teaching?”

“At – at an elementary school. Sometimes I tutor.”

“Elementary school.” Matt leaned back. “Katie….why didn’t you tell me this? All those times I asked you – I could have helped in some way or another.”

Pidge looked down, ashamed. “I didn’t want to bother you,” she said in a small voice. She wanted to prove to him that she wasn’t overly dependent and could take care of herself. Her brother had always been there throughout their life to assist her, and he’d taught her so much, but sometimes she wanted to start exploring and learning on her own. To get a small, simple taste of individuality.

But the risk hadn’t paid off, and now she was dancing on hot coals trying to keep her financial plan in range of her income.

“Pidge, you wouldn’t have been bothering me. Remember, I’m here to _help_ you. Maybe – maybe you should try to split up the load.”

“Split up the load?”

“I’m saying – _maybe_ meet someone.”

“Meet someone?” She knew where he was going with this. “You want me……to start a relationship? Get married?”

“It’s an option.”

“It’s ridiculous. I can’t get married. I’m not even interested in marriage.” She looked away from her brother, out the window – and stopped.

Was that _Bella_ – and her _father_?

_What the f*ck?_

Lance had been staring at her and her brother talking, and she’d caught him in the act. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and then he quickly looked away, back at his daughter.

“Pidge, are you listening?”

She whipped her head around. “Yes. No. Wait, what did you say?”

“I said that you’ve got to be cautious.”

“I have been,” Pidge said firmly, sneaking glances towards the window.

Matt looked at her for a while. “I trust you,” he said finally. “I’m upset you lied to me, and I’m worried about your situation, but I trust you. I know you can take care of yourself, but…….if you need _anything_ , you don’t have to hesitate to ask. Don’t push yourself to the limits until it’s too late to fix anything.”

Pidge swallowed. “Okay. I won’t. Thanks, Matt.”

Matt gave her a small smile, then leaned over and tapped her head. “At least you won’t be spending too much time wasting money on drinking.”

“Hey!” Pidge grinned, smacking his hand away. Allura rejoined them, and soon the three were laughing and talking with much more ease than before. As Pidge glanced towards the window and saw Lance (once again) watching her, she gave him a crooked smile and a little wave. He blinked, a little startled at the upbeat reception, but managed a smile back.

Which was right around the time that Bella had grown tired of her father’s diverted attention and had twisted around in her chair to see what he kept looking at. She caught sight of Pidge, who also waved at her. Her blue eyes became huge. “Daddy! It’s my teacher! It’s Miss Gunderson!” She waved back excitedly, and Matt raised an eyebrow at the small child outside. “Pidge, do you know those people?”

“Kind of.”

Meanwhile, Bella was ready to hop out of her seat, but Lance grabbed her arm before she could do so. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you going?”

“I want to tell my teacher hi,” she answered.

“Not in the middle of a meal.”

“But we’re finished!”

 _Oh, yeah_. Lance signaled the waiter for the check, and paid for their meal. The total price worried him slightly, but he reasoned he could deal with it. As they got up, he was wondering if he should just avoid the teacher, but Bella had already dragged him towards the party of three. He was somewhat surprised that his daughter was _this_ excited to see her science teacher.

“Hi, Miss Gunderson! It’s nice to see you!”

Pidge, Matt, and Allura looked up to see a bright-eyed little girl in a soft blue dress holding the hand of a tall man, who was looking slightly uncomfortable through the smile on his face.

“Hello, Bella. It’s…..nice to see you, too,” said Pidge. Truth be told, she was mildly surprised that the little girl had come to talk to her. She didn’t exactly expect friendliness from any of her students when she encountered them besides school in public.

Matt looked at her and mouthed, “ _Gunderson?_ ” Pidge gave a sheepish smile.

“Who are you?” asked Allura, smiling at Bella.

“Bella McClain.”

“Nice to meet you, Bella. I’m Allura. And this is your father?”

“Lance.” He gave Allura’s hand a quick shake.

Bella looked at Matt. “Who are you?”

“Bella, don’t be rude.” Lance admonished.

“Matt Holt, _Miss Gunderson’s_ older brother.” Pidge gave him a look.

Lance frowned. “Holt?”

“My last name is actually Holt,” Pidge admitted. “Gunderson is a pseudonym I used for school.”

 _That_ was interesting. Miss Holt.

He liked that better than Gunderson.

That topic of conversation didn’t interest Bella, and she turned back to Allura. “Are you a princess? You look like one.”

Allura chuckled. “No, but I’m flattered that you think so,” she replied. Matt, however, slid his arm around her shoulders and winked at Bella. “She’s _my_ princess,” he countered, and his wife flushed with pleasure. Pidge rolled her eyes, but felt her gut twinge a little when Allura was complimented on her beauty. She looked towards Lance to see his reaction – and was stunned.

 _She’s my princess._ Painful memories made an unwelcome comeback, and Lance suddenly realized that he had been secretly craving the relationship that Matt and Allura seemed to have. He _wanted_ a significant other in his life. He desired a romantic relationship.

But experience had trapped his confidence and made him too afraid to consider the possibility or work towards it.

He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. “Excuse us. We have to leave,” he said, tugging his daughter alongside him, away from the three’s table.

Pidge had a feeling something was wrong, so she decided to figure it out. She stood up. “Uh, I’m…...just going to ask them something really quickly. School-related,” she threw in for good measure. She paid for her half of the food and then hurried to catch up to Lance and his daughter, stopping them just as they were getting into their car. Lance had just shut the backseat door, but looked up as soon as Pidge had stopped. He squinted at her in the stark sunlight, which had decided to make a late afternoon appearance. “Yes?”

“Is….is something wrong?” _What is this? Since when have you made an effort to console someone?_

Lance shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. Thanks for your concern.”

“Lance.” Pidge hesitantly touched his shoulder. The combination of his first name and her physical contact stilled him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve – just had a tough few days. That’s all. Taking care of Bella, stuff for work, taxes, the norm.”

Pidge frowned. “Doesn’t your wife help you?”

Lance stiffened. It wasn’t unexpected; after all, he had this very question directed at him a number of times, but it still felt like he gave an irregular answer. He turned away from her and said quietly, “I don’t have a wife. I’m not married. I never have been.”

 _Oh_. “Then….Bella.......”

“Is my daughter,” Lance said firmly.

Pidge realized that, whatever the situation was, he didn’t really want to talk, and she couldn’t blame him. After all, why would he open up to a woman who was only an acquaintance? She looked past him towards the car, where Bella was rummaging inside a little purse of hers filled with toys and knick-knacks. “Well, she looks exactly like you. I guess….you’re very lucky to have a daughter like her. She’s pretty well-behaved in school, just overexcited and eager at times. She’s one of the few kids I actually don’t _mind_ teaching,” Pidge mumbled, then stopped. “I still feel like I owe you one, anyways. Just –” she shrugged. “Let me know if there’s anything you need.”

Bella opened the car door. Since the engine hadn’t been on, she couldn’t open the window, or listen to the radio. “Dad, turn on the car.”

“Sorry, gorgeous.” Lance fished out his keys.

Bella looked at Pidge, scrunched her forehead, and then turned to her dad. “Dad, can Miss Gunderson watch me on Monday night?”

“Watch –?” Lance sputtered. _Her?_

“Instead of Uncle Hunk. Just one day?”

 _Wait……_ maybe _she has a point_. Lance snapped his fingers. He looked at Pidge. “How good are you with kids?”

“Uh, I only know my students well enough…?”

“Are you free after six on weekdays?”

“I think so?”

“Where do you live?”

“In the Sorebrek apartment complex.”

“Fifteen minutes away……” _This is a really stupid idea, Lance. Trusting a random person to take care of your daughter_ and _your house. Even_ Keith _would be better for the job! You don’t really know this woman!_

_Technically, you’re out of options. And she’s not really a random stranger._

Lance took a deep breath. “If I showed you what needed to be done, would you be able to watch my daughter from 7 to 12 from Monday through Friday for next week?”

“What exactly do you mean?”

“My job. I need to keep up my hours, or else I’ll get released because of an overflow of workers. I can’t risk it, and my usual…. _sitter_ is unable to come next week. She’s not trouble.” Lance lowered his voice. “She just needs to be fed dinner, which I can prepare, changed, teeth brushed, hair brushed, story, bed. That’s it. One week. I swear. Can – _Will_ you do it?”

 _Should I do it? What about Bae Bae? No, that’s easy, he just needs to be fed once more and walked in the early evening before sleeping……Keith and Shiro are free evenings, right?_ “I think I might be able to.”

A wave of relief washed over Lance – until he thought of money. “Actually, I, uh, I can’t really –pay you much.” Darn. Now of _course_ she wasn’t going to do it. Money was everything.

To his surprise, however, she said, “I don’t need you to pay me. I can manage.” A hint of her stubbornness was showing through again.

“So you’ll do it?”

Pidge inhaled. “Yes.”

“Okay. Fantastic. Can you come over tomorrow night?”

“Where do you live?”

“Here.” Lance typed in his address, and showed it to her. Pidge glanced at the phone for a second before retrieving her own device and handing it to him. “Swap numbers with me. It’ll make our communication efficient.”

Lance consented, and afterwards climbed into his car. “Thank you so much. It means a lot to me.”

“It’s nothing.” They were both still using a form of politeness used for strangers – though now, it was considerably less stiff and more amiable.

As Lance drove away, Matt and Allura came out. The older man scrutinized his sister. “Pressing educational matters?”

“Of some sort,” Pidge retorted, watching Lance’s car in the distance until it was out of sight. As she walked back to her brother’s vehicle with him and her wife, she hoped she would be able to manage the energetic seven-year-old for five entire days. _I’m certain nothing_ horrible _is going to happen._

She was right this time. Her newfound evening occupation went off without a hitch. Once she arrived at Lance’s house on Sunday, he walked her through everything (albeit with a tense mood), and then after asking if she understood everything, reassured her that he’d post reminders and sticky notes in various places. Bella, of course, was ecstatic about having a _teacher_ taking care of her in the house, wouldn’t stop talking, and almost didn’t want to go to sleep.

Monday went fairly well. The notices Lance had left were nicely detailed, and she only had to refrain herself from taking some of the home-cooked chicken Lance had for his daughter. Her gut grumbled as she drank her coffee and started grading her papers at eight thirty. What she didn’t expect, however, was the learning from the job.

Bella loved to talk to her. Since she only taught one class to her, Pidge didn’t even know half of the information she was feeding her: favorite foods, vacation, stories, and each toy’s background story. And even though Pidge had never been a large fan of kids, she found herself intrigued, and even enjoying herself when listening to Bella, putting her to sleep, or reading her a story. Once Pidge told her about Bae Bae, no other topic could compete, and the little girl started fantasizing about meeting him. Secretly, she began to wonder if the feeling of warmth whenever the little girl fell asleep against her was part of some private joy she’d never experienced.

Then……there was Lance. The first day, he’d arrived home supposing to find her sleeping on the couch, and was shocked when she said that somedays she didn’t sleep until one. Also declaring this unhealthy, he’d tried to make her rest more, but to no avail. However, he did soon let her take whatever food had been prepared for dinner. She drove both ways, using her own gas, though her lights and water costs had probably decreased slightly, since she wasn’t in the house for a majority of nights. Shiro and Keith had agreed to take turns again to watch Bae Bae, and Pidge was eternally grateful to them for that.

Lance also learned her name. “Pidge? Why Pidge?”

“Nickname from my brother. My birth name is Katie, but everyone calls me Pidge. Except my co-workers. It’s _Miss Gunderson_ over there.”

Lance had laughed. “But……why did you fake your name?”

“I didn’t really want to teach. I wanted to get hired by that trending company, the Garrison.”

He whistled. “That place is awesome. I wanted to get in too, but – money.”

“Life.”

“Life’s a b*tch at times.”

“Watch your language, Cap.”

“Avengers?”

“One of my favorites.”

“We should binge-watch one day.”

“Maybe,” said Pidge quietly, but she was smiling. She’d never actually binge-watched with anyone besides Keith, and he had such a stoic face when watching action movies. Everyone’s reaction was different, and she wanted to know what kind of reactions Lance would go through.

Hunk’s job had been moved to a permanent position, so Pidge frequented Lance and Bella’s house. So much for babysitting for only one week. The more time passed, the better Lance got to know her. They moved to a first name basis. Lance discovered that she knew Keith, and she enjoyed the small, scathing-but-good-natured banter he had when the two interacted. He was impressed with the significant amount of knowledge she had, and she enjoyed his humor and occasional lightheartedness. They became good friends, and even more so when she was introduced to Hunk. The two men were shocked when she said she didn’t cook, and began to give her a spotty education in culinary arts, since she didn’t have an appropriate time for a legitimate class period.

They didn’t get around to any leisurely activities, because for right now, everything was still business related, and the young adults were still stressed with their jobs. They never mentioned the state of their financial incomes to each other, though, because that was still a personal aspect of their lives. They weren’t that close yet.

Just good friends.

For now, anyways.

(Side note: Matt and Allura actually left Pidge’s place before dinner, because Allura’s allergy meds were wearing off. Although she felt it was wasted time, her lamb shank efforts were not in vain, as she enjoyed the meal. Or rather, Bae Bae enjoyed it. Pidge couldn’t swallow more than five bites without gagging. Thank _goodness_ her brother didn’t stay for that.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope whoever's reading this is enjoying it. There should be some emotional bits in the next chapter.  
> Also........I HID ANOTHER ANAGRAM. DUN DUN DUN!


	5. Maybe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another busy weekend, another long wait. I apologize  
> Super excited for close to 100 Kudos!!

Two months passed in this fashion. Although Pidge was still stressed financially (gas essentials had been more frequent), she was feeling socially relaxed. Slightly.

But just when life seems to be increasingly sufficient, it throws a curveball.

Pidge was writing a couple of notes on her tablet while her second graders, grouped into pairs, did in-class projects on metamorphosis. She tapped her stylus against the screen. _Let’s see…….what day is today? Right. The third of December. Which means winter break in another two weeks. Thank goodness. Wait……the third?_

Her monthly rent was due in four days.

Which meant her paycheck needed to come in soon. She needed to talk to the principal about that. Maybe if she could get him to give her the salary sooner, closer to the beginning of the month, then she wouldn’t be so agitated in terms of the apartment and pet expenses.

She looked at the clock, then clapped her hands to capture the attention of the students. “Since class is over, I need you to clean up. Put away your art supplies: markers, paper, scissors, whatever you used. Your papers need to be handed in, and I’ll hang them up by tomorrow.” She secretly wished they weren’t dealing with life science. It was one of her least favorable aspects in the field of science, but it was in the lesson plan for the younger kids. As soon as the students had packed up their belongings and had filed down to the playground, she went up to the principal’s office.

When she entered, he looked up and gave her a smile. “Hello, Miss Gunderson. Can I help you with something? You received the notice about your tutoring student, right? He’s absent.”

“Yes, but this isn’t about that, Coran.” The principal had recommended that the teachers call him by his first name. “It’s about…..my pay.”

“Yes, you’ll be receiving it in a couple of days. December 13th, to be precise.”

“That’s the thing. I was wondering – if I could possibly have it earlier.”

Coran raised an eyebrow. “Earlier?”

“It’s just – I have something else I need to pay for the same day it comes in, and I can’t always do it on time. So if you gave it to me earlier……” Pidge trailed off, looking at him hopefully, but an earnest expression had crossed the principal’s face.

He sighed. “Unfortunately, I can’t. If I made an exemption for you, it wouldn’t be fair to anyone else, and we can’t afford to move up everyone’s paychecks. We try to have it to our educators at the earliest times possible, and right now, that means about a third of the month in. In fact, there’s a slight possibility it might even come _later_ this month. Terribly sorry, Miss Gunderson. I apologize. It doesn’t matter how crucial your matter is, I can’t support you there. The school board has my hands tied. So sorry.”

“Oh,” said Pidge numbly. “Okay. I understand.”

“If you need help with anything else –”

“No. No thanks. I – I’m good.” Pidge left the room dazedly, heading back to her classroom and sinking down into her chair behind the desk.

As she did so, she suddenly remembered the envelope on her desk that she’d picked up before school. She’d resolved to open it later, since she had been in such a hurry to make it to school on time, but what caught her attention that morning was that it was from the Sorebrek apartment complex manager.

She fished it out of her shoulder bag and slit it open. _It’s probably one of those warnings that the manager sends out to me. Nothing too serious, even though now my salary is getting delayed_.

But this form was different.

_Tenant: Katie_

_Unit: 500_

_Legal Action for the Month(s) of: August, September, October, November_

_Please be advised that your rent was late for the above month(s). You must pay a 5% fee with your rent as calculated below. Your rent has been delivered to us late on a regular basis. If your rent is not paid by the 10 th of the month, we will file a complaint pursuing repossession of your property due to this default under your lease. Additionally, court costs could be assessed to your account if the eviction is carried out. **Please be advised that all sums described below must be paid to halt the eviction process.**_

**_Rent: $1,400 (with additional required rent services)_ **

**_Late Fee: $70_ **

**_Total: $1,470 (with additional required rent services)*_ **

**_*_ ** _If the total due remains unfulfilled on the 10 th of the month, an additional $25 in court fees is due._

_Very Truly Yours,_

_Otulp Noom, Property Manager_

            The letter dropped from Pidge’s hands onto the desk.

_No. Oh no._

_This can’t be happening._

She stood up abruptly, but the world swayed, and she had to grab on to the desk edges for support. Her breath was coming out in shallow little gasps. She swallowed forcibly and tried to clear her head.

The door opened, and Pidge jumped.

Bella was standing at the entrance. “I forgot my jacket,” she explained, retrieving the pale purple coat from the back of her chair.

Pidge nodded. “Sure –” but then she stopped, her voice cracking. She turned away from the little girl, nails digging into the desk, on the threshold of tears.

As Bella was leaving, she happened to glance at the teacher and was shocked to see her shoulders shaking. A barely perceptible sniff confirmed her suspicions, and the young girl warily left the classroom, making her way to the playground, where she saw her dad talking to the playground monitor. As she approached the two, Lance turned to her, and a look of relief crossed his face. “Bella, where were you? The playground supervisor said that you came out to the playground–”

“I had to get my jacket,” Bella murmured.

“Okay,” said Lance, leading her to the car. “I was thinking that maybe we could – honey, are you okay?”

For he’d caught sight of her face, which looked tense and nervous. He knelt down next to her. Height similarity always helped ease the situation. “Did someone make fun of you at school today?”

She shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong with me. But Daddy……I think – I think Miss Gunderson was crying.”

“Wha – _crying_? Are you sure?” Lance was stunned.

“Her shoulders were shivering, but I couldn’t see her face.” Bella’s voice was unusually quiet. It scared her to see adults cry.

 _Is she okay?_ was the first thought that came into Lance’s mind, and worry shot through him. He resumed his full height, and brought his daughter back to the playground. “Gorgeous, I’m just – going to check on her. Can you play until I get back?”

Bella nodded. “Dad, do you think she’s okay?”

Lance tried to smile reassuringly. “I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”

The playground monitor raised an eyebrow at him. “Mad at the science teacher again? Your daughter ain’t in detention this time.”

Lance ignored her and headed into the school.

                                                       ~~~~~

 _Eviction. Eviction._ Pidge put a hand to her head. She couldn’t be evicted. Where would she go? Matt’s place? For how long? She didn’t have the money to find another apartment, and what about all her stuff? Sell it online? Did that even work in a short amount of time? Besides – she couldn’t be robbed of her possessions, she barely had any! And what about Bae Bae? Pet rent cost so much – but she couldn’t get rid of him! Where would he go? With Keith and Shiro? Then _they’d_ have to pay pet rent, and they wouldn’t be able to watch him properly.

The tears were puddling in her eyes, and finally spilled over her cheeks. She didn’t bother wiping them away from her face. _This is all my fault. I can’t believe I let this happen. I should have just asked Matt for help in the first place._ Now _how is he going to bail me out? I barely have over a thousand leftover from November, and I can’t ask him for this much money, because I can’t pay him back_. _I can’t pay_ court fees _! And all this by the_ tenth of December _? What about my job? What’s going to happen to Bae Bae? I don’t want to give him away! What’s going to happen to_ me?

She began to sob, quietly, then a little louder. Even though she was chiding herself in her head ( _Stop it! Crying’s not going to help this at all! Get a grip on yourself, Katie!_ ) her situation felt hopeless at the moment, and crying seemed to help her loosen up. Her tears began to drip on the wooden desk, but at the moment she didn’t really care.

Her classroom door opened.

Pidge whipped her head around to see who it was, then immediately wished she hadn’t. Lance was at the doorway, and she hastily turned away from him, wiping at her face. But he’d still glimpsed her appearance nevertheless. Her eyes were still red, and her cheeks were tear-stained.

“Pidge?”

“W-What?” Pidge hated the way her voice shook. She started to shove her supplies into her bag, eyes downward.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Thanks for your concern.”

Lance sighed, remembering those same words from the restaurant. “Don’t be like that. Bella said she saw you crying, and I can see it too.”

 _F*ck_. “Lance, I’m _fine_.” Pidge said determinedly, hoping he’d leave her alone.

However, he wasn’t going anywhere. “Just tell me. You’re kinda worrying me with the emotional breakdown.”

“I’m not having an emotional breakdown!” Pidge insisted.

Lance went over to her and grabbed her shoulder. “Stop lying to yourself. You can’t just push me away and think I won’t care. I’m your _friend_. Even though you don’t want help, you need it. _What is going on_?”

Pidge wrenched her shoulder away from him. “ _Fine_!” She snatched the paper from her desk and shoved it into his face, agitated. “ _This_! This is what’s going on, okay?! I’m going to get evicted!”

“Evicted?”

“I’m going to get expelled from my apartment because _I can’t pay the rent_. I don’t – I don’t even know what that means for me! My job? My paycheck comes in too late, and I can’t pay rent on time, so now they’ve sent a warning! If I don’t pay in a week, I’m – I’m going to be homeless! And what about my dog?” She knew, in the back of her head, that she should stop rambling and think the situation out properly, but her shock still hadn’t completely worn off. “I can’t give him away to just anyone, and I can’t give someone else I know the burden of taking care of him! I can’t even stay with Matt, because he doesn’t have the room _or_ money, and Allura’s allergic to dogs!”

“ _Pidge_! Calm down!” Lance ordered, clutching her arm. He was trying to figure out what to say to her. “Look….you – you’re going to be fine. It’s not the end of the world.”

Unfortunately, this only upset her further. “ _Not the end of the world?_ ” she snarled. “I’m sorry, do you have any idea what this is _like_? Truth be told, Lance McClain, I’ve been _striving_ to live on my own! I can’t go a single day without worrying whether I’ll be able to eat dinner at the conclusion of it! I can’t even afford a proper _job_ that allows me to use my full potential! You – you don’t know what I’m going through, struggling to make ends meet in my life, and wondering, at the end of the day, if _any_ of this – my job, my life – is f*cking worth it anymore!”

“Oh, believe me, I know _exactly_ what you’re going through,” Lance retaliated, irritated. “You’re not the only ones with money issues, Pidge Holt, and you’re _not_ the only one suffering. I work my a** off almost every day so Bella can get a good education, live a life free of troubles and stress – while my _good-for-nothing_ ex doesn’t give a sh*t about us. It’s torturous for me, especially while seeing the better lives my friends are living, but I make it work out the best I can. And you know, there’s one thing that separates us. At the end of the day, I _do_ have something that makes it all worthwhile - my daughter.”

The young teacher faltered. He was right. Everyone did have _someone_ with them to offer support, moral or literal. Keith had Shiro, Matt had Allura……..and her? No one. (Unless you counted Bae Bae, but he only gave animal companionship). Although…..she hadn’t known how badly Lance was dealing with finances. Money was a brief and personal subject that both of them were too uncomfortable to talk about.

Until now, apparently.

Lance was studying her, quiet since his outburst. “……..Pidge?”

“You’re right,” she said flatly. “Which is why I have to keep pushing through, because no one’s going to help me pick up the pieces of my fractured life.” _Not even Matt can help. There’s only so much he can do. I dug this hole, now I have to fill it up_. “Just leave me alone, Lance. Stop caring about what happens to me.”

“…...... _I don’t want to_.”

“Wha _-?_ ” Pidge turned to look at him, and that’s when he lunged forward.

Logic and instinct fight on so many levels. For example, in cases of collision, logic dictates that we should brace ourselves for the impact strategically, while instinct compels us to flinch and close our eyes. Pidge was a logic follower, but every so often instinct would win over the two.

Which is why her eyes squeezed shut instead of opening wide as soon as Lance’s lips came into contact with her own.

She felt their noses bump, the efficiency haphazard as his unexpected force shoved her against the desk, her body tilting back slightly, the wooden edge pressing into her middle back. His hands grasped her waist, tugging her body upward to some extent, and her arms, wanting purchase, flailed behind her, accidentally shoving one of her binders off the desk, and it crashed to the floor.

The noise jolted Lance back to reality, and he immediately pulled away from the flustered woman, who’d been too shocked to respond the way he’d wanted her to, her glasses askew, and eyes still red from weeping. _F*ck. I_ really _screwed up this time. What the **hell** was I thinking?_

“I didn’t – I-I wasn’t – I’m sorry!” he blurted out, and practically dashed out of the classroom, suddenly terrified.

“W-Wait –” Pidge tried to say, but the man had already left. She took a step forward, stopped, and put a hand to her mouth, shaking slightly. What had just _happened_?

She shook her head, then bent down to retrieve the binder, and a nagging voice at the back of her head said, _He realized he_ didn’t _want to kiss you. Why else would he hightail it out of here? Why would he want to kiss_ you _, of all people, in the first place?_

More tears began to trickle out of her eyes…….which was confusing.

Since when did she care what he thought of her?

                                                                 ~~~~~

Lance stopped near the exit and took a couple of breaths. He slammed a hand into his forehead and groaned.

Why on earth had he done something as stupid as that? _She’s nearly frantic over her finances, and you think that_ kissing _her is going to help? What was the point of doing that? You didn’t even reassure her._

            He wanted to tell himself that it was an absurd way to cheer her up, but he knew, at the back of his head, that it was to quell his own desires. The longing sensation he’d first felt two months ago had only gotten stronger, and had pulsed intensely whenever he’d been around Pidge the last month. Sometimes she had that cute, focused look on her face when grading papers late at night, but mixed with a tired expression which, along with her tufty hair, almost reminded him of a sleepy kitten (although he’d never say it to her face). Once he’d asked her a question, and somehow she ended up rambling about some topic she was passionate about, and he hadn’t heard a single word, because he’d been too busy drinking in the sound of her voice, overeager and happy.

So…….wait.

Was he…… _in love_ with her?

He’d considered it. About a week ago. But he’d tried to shove the idea away. Falling in love had practically destroyed him the first time, and he wasn’t about to make the same mistake now.

Apparently he’d forgotten that motive today.

And the worst part?

Even though she probably detested him now and didn’t ever want to see him again, a small part of him wanted to kiss her once more. Feel her soft lips against his…..

 _No_. _Stop it, Lance. You’re going to go home with Bella right now, and you’re going to respect her teacher from now on. This is about_ her _happiness, not yours. No more stupidity, and no more…..intimate fraternizing._

He hit his head for good measure, then proceeded back to the near-deserted playground. Bella had been sitting on a swing, but sprang up as soon as she saw her father. “Daddy, is Miss Gunderson okay?”

“What?” Shoot. He’d forgotten his _daughter_ was also concerned.

“Is she okay?”

“Uh…” Lance led her to the car once again, trying to think of something. “…..Yeah. She was – was just……tired…..that’s all.”

“Oh,” Bella pursed her mouth. “Then maybe she shouldn’t watch me today, Dad. Because you stay out late, and she can’t sleep until you come back, right?”

 _Oh, sh– is she going to come tonight? I can’t get anyone else_ , Lance thought frantically. “No, sweetheart, she doesn’t mind watching you. She likes you very much. She just slept late on the weekend.”

He prayed that his daughter was buying this.

“Okay. Daddy, can we go out to Tree’s with her?”

 _Whaaat?_ “Not – not right now, Bella. We don’t have enough…..time yet.” He wondered, though, if Pidge would ever want to see them again, let alone go anywhere with them. Basically, she could press charges for harassment. _She could. She’d earn money that way._ The idea freaked him out a bit _. No! I’d be seen as an unfit parent! And besides, she would_ never _do that! We’re friends!_

Maybe not anymore.

                                                  ~~~~~~~

Pidge, thankfully, had exhausted her short state of crying and now was trying to figure out how to earn more than one thousand in seven days.

It seemed close to impossible.

She couldn’t use a loan, because she already had loans from the bank that she hadn’t paid off yet, and if she used more loans, she’d have to pay back using interest, which would put her in debt for an even greater cost.

The possibility of getting a second job was also ruled out, because not only did she not have time to spare, she also couldn’t make a large sum in a week with just an evening job.

To make matters worse, the memory of Lance’s kiss was still afflicting her mind. She was trying her hardest to forget what had happened, but the fact that she had to go back to his _house_ and watch his _daughter_ was bad enough in itself.

So when it was close to nightfall, she resigned herself to driving the nine or so miles to Lance’s house.

However, he wasn’t expecting her to come, which was why he was on the phone, dressed and prepared to leave, but pleading with Hunk. “One day, man, _one day_!”

“Lance, I already told you. I called in sick yesterday, and I can’t afford to do it twice in a row. What happened to Pidge?”

“She, ah, she – quit,” Lance replied, once again checking outside his room to make sure Bella wasn’t within earshot.

“ _Quit_? What for? No pay?”

“…..Mm-hm.”

“Maybe she really needed extra money, then.”

 _You have no idea_. “Yeah. But seriously, Hunk –”

The doorbell chimed.

Lance made his way towards the front door, confused, but still talking to Hunk. Bella, however, beat him to the entrance, and had tugged open the door before Lance could. She wasn’t supposed to answer the door, but she knew it was her teacher.

“Hi, Miss Gunderson!”

Lance almost dropped the phone. Pidge smiled at Bella, but barely lifted her gaze when she greeted Lance stiffly.

“Y’know what, Hunk? I’ve…..got it under control,” Lance said, then hung up. He also couldn’t bring himself to look the teacher in the face. “Um, tuna sandwiches in the fridge. Love you, Bella. Behave. Bye.” He all but rushed out the front door, and Pidge looked after him uncomfortably.

“Miss Gunderson, if you’re tired, you can sleep with me.”

Bella was looking at her expectantly. Pidge blinked. “Tired?”

“I thought you were sad today because you were sleepy.”

 _Right, she saw me cry. Oof_. “Oh, well, I can sleep when I get home. You don’t have to worry about me.” Pidge looked at Bella fondly. _This child is a small blessing_ , she decided. “Now, did you finish all of your homework?”

                                                           ~~~~~~

Lance had been distracted during his whole night shift, and his anxious feelings only mounted as he neared his home. He parked, opened the door, and found Pidge asleep at the table in front of her laptop, papers and folders strewn messily around her. _She must have really been tired out from her nervous breakdown_. Lance looked at her cautiously, then approached her workspace.

“Pidge.” No response.

A little louder. “Pidge.” Still no response.

Lance leaned over and gently shook her by the shoulder. “Pidge?”

The young woman startled up from her seat, eyes half open, but now awake. _What the – Crap. I fell asleep……..I_ never _fall asleep_. “Hmm?” She shook her head once, twice, then rubbed at her eyes. “Oh.” A pink blush blossomed on her face. “Sorry, Lance, I don’t usually fall asleep. I’ll leave now.” She got up, cleaned up the area, closed her computer, and slung her bag over her shoulder.

“Before you leave, here.” Lance held out several bills.

Pidge looked at him, shocked. “What’s this?”

“It’s……..60 dollars,” Lance replied. “I thought I might as well pay you, especially now. I know I owe you much more, though.”

“I thought you couldn’t afford to.”

“I can manage.”

 _And I can’t?_ Pidge wanted to say, but she knew the words weren’t true. Not anymore.

“Also…..” Lance looked at her and took a deep breath, then blurted out: “I’m very sorry for kissing you and it was an accident and please don’t press charges against me for harassment.”

Pidge blinked a couple of times. _Accident? I knew it_. What she said, however, was, “Harassment?”

Lance folded his arms, trying to sound indifferent, but his face was red. “I basically _sexually harassed_ you in your classroom. You can’t deny that.”

“Depends on the motive.”

“ _What_?”

“Why’d you kiss me?” she asked bluntly, also trying (and failing) to sound indifferent.

“I – I was…. I was just……. I like you, okay? A lot. And – and I didn’t want to – to end up falling in love with you-” Yeah, he was screwed up for good now. “- especially since pursuing love has given me nothing but trouble.” His voice faded away slightly.

 _He’s in love with me?_ Pidge thought, but instead she asked him softly, “What trouble?”

Lance paused for a few seconds, then told her about Nyma.

When he finished, Pidge looked shocked for a moment, then cursed quietly. _Good-for-nothing ex? Try the biggest b*tch on the face of the planet_. She couldn’t believe it. What sort of woman would abandon her _own daughter?_ “Lance…….I’m so sorry.”

Lance held up a hand, using the other to run his fingers through his hair. “It’s fine. I learned my lesson. Or….” He looked at Pidge, who colored under his scrutiny. “…..at least I thought I did.” He shook his head. “Anyways, that doesn’t matter now. You – you can go home, and I won’t bother you again. I’m sorry I couldn’t completely help you with your money problem.”

He started to turn away from her, but she grabbed his arm. “Hey.”

The gentleness in her voice made him stop, and she took that opportunity to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him.

The gesture was better-executed this time, but for one dreadful moment she worried that she’d made a terrible mistake. Those fears diminished, however, when he kissed her back, sliding his hands around her waist. It was softer, sweeter, and more passionate than the first time, which had been desperate, full of longing, and full of pain all at once.

They separated, both breathing heavily, foreheads pressed together. Pidge kept her eyes downward, both nervous and euphoric all at once, but forced herself to look Lance in the eyes, suddenly noting how blue they were. “I think……I’m in love with you too.”

Lance smiled at her, moving a hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “Pidge.”

“Yeah?” She grinned shakily, wondering what he was going to say to her.

“…….Are you on your tiptoes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, only two chapters left!!  
> I want someone to do fanart of the desk kiss, I'm not much of an artist, but please? Anyone???  
> It's loosely based off of the Fitzsimmons kiss from Agents of Shield, but different.  
> Your comments on this give me life, I love reading them, and they definitely brighten my day!


	6. Maybe not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah....sorry again for the long wait.  
> Warning: slight accident details. No blood.

Pidge thought the last month was good? This month was better. Winter break found her in an exhilarating mood.

She had called Matt on December 6th, and half-explained, half-cried about her situation to him. Just as she had predicted, he couldn’t loan every single penny she needed…….but _his wife_ could.

“Are you serious?” Pidge said in a hushed voice. “Did –”

“Don’t you even _suggest_ I married Allura for her money,” Matt interrupted, flaring up. “Allura’s the sweetest, loveliest, most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and –”

“I wasn’t going to say that. And don’t you mean _second-most_ amazing woman? Don’t I count for anything?”

Apparently Allura’s father was impossibly rich (even though he was retired), and two thousand dollars was barely a stretch for her. Pidge was unsure about this, and didn’t want to accept any money from her, partly because she didn’t know Allura very well, but the woman brushed it off and said it wasn’t any trouble.

“Allura, you’re a lifesaver,” Pidge had said gratefully. “I _swear_ I’ll pay you back –”

“There’s no need to pay me back, Katie,” Allura refused, but there had been a small twinkle in her eye. “Although……..perhaps Matt and I could visit more often?”

Pidge only hesitated for a fraction of a second before agreeing. “Absolutely.”

Matt had grinned, slinging an arm around Allura’s waist. “But Pidge, you’ve gotta remember this isn’t a monthly thing. We can’t bail you out every single time –”

“I know.” She cut him off. “I’m going to set a time with my manager.”

It took quite a bit of prodding and poking to get him to agree that she could pay the rent directly in the middle of the month, but a money bribe (and a threat from her, the _mastermind_ _hacker_ ) helped seal the deal.

She was experiencing the feeling of relief. Stress had been bearing down on her hard for the past year, and now that that tension had loosened, she was pleased with the results. Of course, she wasn’t quite well-off, and still had to make budget cuts every now and then on products, but the severity of her financial situation had lessened.

Which allowed her to focus on the other subject now frequently occupying her mind.

Lance.

Honestly, she sometimes couldn’t believe that she’d fallen for him. Or that he’d actually fallen in love with her. At least, judging by Keith’s reaction when she’d told him.

“We’re both talking about _Lance McClain_? Walmart employee?”

“I only know one.”

“Wow. He really _has_ changed since college. Used to be a bit of a womanizer. Went for the tall, curvy, and often _brainless_ type of women. But – it’s good that he’s getting the bigger picture.”

Pidge was shorter than average, unsociable, and a huge nerd. Not to mention his _daughter’s teacher._ It seemed so ethereal……….and yet there he was, kissing the living daylights out of her almost every other midnight. It was the highlight of her day – or rather, night – enjoying the sweet but tantalizingly brief moments shared during the late hours at his house. They didn’t just make out, either. Instead, the two talked and joked quietly, sometimes forgetting about the time, and once Pidge didn’t leave until 2:30 in the morning. She could barely teach her lesson later in the day, but it was worth it to her.

They _did_ talk about Bella a lot.

“So if I fail her, you won’t get mad at me, right?” Pidge teased, leaning against Lance ever-so-slightly.

“Depends if how you fail her unfairly. I mean, obviously she’s got my brains, she won’t fail.”

Pidge snorted. “She’s doomed.”

But mostly, she realized how much he loved his daughter.

“She means the world to me,” he said to her softly. “I don’t care who her mom is, I’d do _anything_ for her. I’d take a bullet for her in a heartbeat. When you have that one person in your life who looks up to you, trusts you, _and_ loves you, it’s hard not to reciprocate their feelings and care for them in the same manner.”

And a tiny part of her wished he’d speak about _her_ with that much sincerity in his voice.

Pidge’s innovative brain puzzled over the fact that _one man_ could make her feel like a lovesick, weak-kneed teenager. Or at least, what appeared to be one. Love hadn’t been a strong part of her life up until now.

And Lance? He treasured the moments spent with Pidge. Even though he didn’t always understand what she was talking about, especially in terms of science, he just relished the fact that she was with him, as more than a friend, and he loved her company almost more than Hunk’s. Of course, his best friend was still kept in the loop. The two had gossiped like a pair of teenaged girls on December 3rd, and Hunk had been extremely happy for his friend, because unlike before, he’d actually become acquainted with Pidge, and knew that she was a strong, genuine woman. Lance, too, didn’t seem to have any doubts about her. He could tell she was different than Nyma, and the sensation he felt with her was completely new and amazing.

But he realized one night, after she’d left and he was lying in his bed, that he wanted to spend _more_ time with her. One hour five days a week wasn’t nearly enough, particularly when both were practically asleep on their feet. Although he enjoyed kissing her, sensing her soft skin beneath his hands, feeling her hair, intertwining their fingers, breathing in her sweet scent each night, a part of him worried that she’d think he only liked her for her body.

Which was definitely _not_ his motive.

So he came up with the brilliant conclusion to ask her out on a date.

However, a small problem arose one night, one that Lance should have taken into account, but strangely never did, seeing as it barely surfaced. But now suspicions were awakened in one particular person.

Bella.

It was a typical Thursday night, the Thursday before winter break, and the digital clock in the kitchen currently read 1:15. Pidge had her bookbag on one shoulder, ready to head out the door, but _somehow_ , the bag ended up abandoned on a chair near the front door, and her leaving time was delayed as Lance, fingers deftly working at each button, tugged her sweater off of her shoulders. The garment fell to the floor, and she herself tugged on his shirt hem once before he pressed her against the wall, moving from her lips to her now-exposed throat, trailing kisses down her neck. She tangled her fingers in his hair and moaned softly. “ _Lance_.....”

Meanwhile, Bella had just experienced a nightmare. Whenever this happened in the McClain household, the answer was simple.

  * __Go wash your face if you’re sweating (the bathroom was connected to her room.)__


  * _Come to your dad’s room, and he won’t be mad. He might be sleeping_ really _deeply, though._


  * _Tell him you had a bad dream, and crawl into bed with him. Even if he doesn’t wake up, he still understands your reason._



 

Number _one_ was fine. But number two onwards……

Bella pushed open the door to her dad’s room. (The two bedrooms were in the hallway, and Lance and Pidge were at the opposite side of the house, closer to the main entrance and the office.) “Dad?” No answer. She crept closer to the bed, and was stunned to see no one in it. A glance towards his bathroom confirmed that he wasn’t in there either.

Bella wasn’t scared of the dark…. _unless_ she was by herself. So when she didn’t find her dad in the bedroom, fear began to creep into her mind. “ _Daddy_!” she cried, voice trembling.

 _Now_ the two adults heard her.

“Oh, sh-oot,” Lance hissed, pulling away from Pidge, who also looked startled at hearing the little girl cry out. She adjusted her glasses as Lance hastened towards the hallway. “Bella? Bella, what is it?”

The little girl emerged from his room, blue eyes large and fearful. She launched herself at her dad, hugging him tightly, and sniffling a bit. “I – I had a nightmare – and I – and I didn’t know where you were! You’re supposed to be in bed, Daddy!”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay, _belleza_ ,” Lance crooned, stroking the girl’s hair. “I’m sorry, I was just – uh….doing _stuff_. Or….work. Yeah. Work.”

Bella sniffed, raised her head – then caught sight of Pidge, who had tried to come and discreetly check if she was okay. She tried to retreat, but it was too late. “Miss Gunderson?”

The teacher gave her a small, embarrassed grin, trying to smooth out her hair a little. “Uh….Hi, Bella. I was – I was just leaving, because your dad, he, uh, he just came home. So he….didn’t go to sleep yet.”

Bella looked at the clock sleepily. “It’s one……and Daddy comes home at midnight……and aren’t you cold?”

Pidge looked at her thin shirt, which she’d hastily thrown on under her sweater, thinking the weather wasn’t going to be too cold. Clearly she had misjudged, as she found out later in the day. “No. I mean, yes. I mean, I have a sweater that I……. _took off_ ,” she answered, looking pointedly at Lance. He winked at her from over his daughter’s head. Thankfully, the lights were off, so her blush wasn’t seen in the darkness.

Lance picked up Bella, who was too tired to protest, and carried her to her room. “Do you want me to tell you a story?”

“Daddy, I want to sleep with you. What if I have another nightmare?”

“You won’t, gorgeous. No one gets nightmares twice,” he reassured her as the two went into her room.

Pidge started to feel uncomfortable, and realized that she should have left before. _I can’t interfere with him and his daughter, what am I doing?_ She went back to the front, grabbed her sweater, pulled it on, seized her bookbag, and was about to leave when Lance came back. He looked at her, slightly confused. “Leaving so soon?”

“Lance, it’s one in the morning.”

“I meant, leaving without saying goodbye?” He assumed a flirtatious expression, something he hadn’t done in years.

Pidge pressed her mouth into a thin line. “Goodbye, Lance.” She opened the door, then added, “Sorry about keeping you awake….away, from your daughter.”

Lance frowned. “It doesn’t matter. She’s fine, I just put her back to sleep.”

“Still. I can’t keep disturbing you at unearthly hours.”

“So………..does that mean you want to meet up sometime else?” Not the smoothest way to ask a girl out, but it wasn’t like he’d had much practice lately.

Pidge stopped short. “Wait….are you saying…”

“Do you want to – grab a drink or something Saturday?” Lance said in a rush.

A warm, tingly feeling stirred inside of the young woman. “Yeah……..actually, I’d love that.” She smiled her familiar, curved grin.

Lance exhaled in relief, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, and kissing her forehead. “Later, Pidgey.”

“Don’t call me that,” she protested, but the porch lights revealed the color on her face that said otherwise.

                                                             ~~~~~

However, their intended rendezvous didn’t go as planned. Pidge had everything ready – Bae Bae fed and walked, paperwork half-finished, groceries bought – but when she got into the car, she heard a weird deflating noise. “Oh, sh*t.” One of her tires was slowly leaking air, with a low hissing emitting from it.

She got out of the car and scowled, fighting the urge to kick the darn vehicle _. Great._ Now _how am I supposed to meet up with Lance? There’s no way I’m calling an Uber, and by the time I get this fixed_ …… She sighed. _Okay, maybe Lance can pick me up_. She dialed his number, her fingers tingling. She’d never actually been on a date. Matt had, a couple of times, and…….. _huh_.

She had yet to tell Matt about her affair with Lance. She wondered how he would receive it. He wasn’t usually the overshadowing big-brother type, but at the same time, guys had never really displayed an interest in her, so there hadn’t been an issue.

Well, he’d met him once before already, so…..

Lance picked up on the fourth ring. “Hey, Pidge. I was just about to call you.”

“I – you were?”

“Yeah. I – uh, I sort of forgot about Bella.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hunk’s out of town for the break, and I don’t have anyone else to watch her. So….” She heard him sigh. “I’m sorry, Pidge. I know you think I’m bailing, but trust me, I was really –”

“No, it’s fine,” she dismissed, even though disappointment was seeping into her bones. “My car just acquired a flat tire, anyways, so I have no transportation method now.”

Lance whistled. “Okay, that’s worse than my reason – do you need it to be towed?”

“Yeah, but I can do it later. Wait….actually……you can do it. Come over with your daughter.”

“What?”

“Come over. Come for a visit. It’s the least I can do, and after populating your house for so many weeks, it’s only fair I return the favor. Except……my place is miniscule. And I have no solid food to offer. But can you come anyways?”

Lance considered it. “I’ll come, but……you have to let me tow your car.”

 _Free_ _work? Like I’m passing that up_. “Deal.” Pidge smiled as she hung up.

                                                 ~~~~~~~~

“Dad, where are we going?” Bella pressed as Lance drove.

“Oh, to the Land of Oz,” he replied airily.

“ _DAD_.”

“Somewhere, sweetheart. You’ll see.”

The two pulled up to the apartment complex, and Lance and Bella clambered out of the car. “Dad, are we visiting someone?”

“Maybe.”

“Dad!”

Lance led her to Door 407, and rapped at the door lightly. A few seconds later, it opened, and Pidge’s head popped over the frame. “Hi, Lance, Bella.” She smiled nervously.

“Miss Gunderson!” Bella cried, and then she caught sight of something that made her squeal. “BAE BAE!”

Lance tried to grab her arm, but the little girl had already launched herself onto the excited canine. “Bella, don’t –”

“Oh, it’s okay. Bae Bae actually really likes kids,” Pidge said.

“How does she know his name?”

“I told her a lot. She’s an animal person?”

“Yeah, especially since all we own is a _fish_.”

“Pity.”

“Bella’s always wanted a dog. I mean, right now we can’t really – we don’t have room for a dog. Well…….or the money to take care of one.”

Pidge looked at Bella, who was cooing to the excited dog, rubbing his fur while his tail thumped vigorously. “Looks like they’re becoming fast friends.”

“Yeah, Bella _usually_ has that effect on whoever she meets.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “Unnecessary stress on the word _usually_ , Lance. I told you – don’t harp.”

He smirked. “I won’t harp – I guess. If you don’t mind joining me for – uh…” Lance realized he had no clue what he was about to say, despite the suave start.

“.....Joining you for _towing_ my _car_?” Pidge smirked. “I think I should be watching your daughter instead. Can’t leave her alone in the apartment.”

“Chickening out of work?”

“I’m sorry, do _you_ want to grade thirty science quizzes?”

“I’ll be back in half an hour,” Lance replied hastily. “Bella, behave!” he called out to his daughter, but she, being too busy with Bae Bae, didn’t hear him.

However, she wasn’t too distracted for her curiosity not to get the best of her. “Miss Gunderson?”

“Hmm?” Pidge looked up from her papers.

“Did you invite us to your house?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I thought Dad said he was going somewhere with you.”

“Well, my car broke down, swee – uh, Bella,” Pidge answered. _Was I about to call his daughter a_ pet name?

“Oh.” Bella was quiet for a moment, while Bae Bae lay on the floor, soothed by the girl’s energetic rubs. “Are you friends with my dad now?”

 _Friends_? Pidge recalled the heated moments of each weeknight, and she fought to keep her face from blooming scarlet. “Y-Yeah, we’re friends,” she managed to choke out. But for some reason, the question didn’t leave her head. _Are we just friends? Or are we something else? Am I his girlfriend? But he’s never called me that. Then again, who would he say it to?_

It stayed with her until Lance came back. After assuring her that her car was fine, he sat down at the table next to her, grabbing a couple of his own documents that needed to be taken care of. School bills for the month were due in another week, and he had to pay mortgage on top of that.

At least it wasn’t April.

“Some date,” he muttered. “Wanna race and see who finishes their work the fastest?”

Pidge didn’t respond.

“Hey – are you alright?” Lance had leaned over and was peering into her face anxiously.

Instead of brushing it away with a simple _Lance, I’m fine_ , Pidge looked towards Bella, who was tossing bits of Bae Bae’s dry food in the air, hoping he’d catch them, and lowered her voice. “What – what are we?”

Lance looked completely lost for a second. “Um….do you mean _physically_ , or….”

“No, I mean…..what are we? As in you and I. Are – are we just friends, or do you think of me as your – girlfriend, or –” The word _girlfriend_ sounded strange when being used to describe her.

Lance’s face settled into understanding. “Ah. Well – do you know any other just-friends who make out with each other every other night?”

“A simple _no_ would have sufficed, Lance. Didn’t ask for detail,” she blushed.

Lance reached over and placed a hand on Pidge’s, sending an electrical feeling tingling through her. “No, Pidge, we’re not just friends. You’re too…. _striking_ to be just a friend.”

“Does that mean….that I’m your girlfriend?” she asked, cheeks flaming. She _really_ had to work on her poker face.

Lance also went red. “Uh, if – if you want to be,” he offered. “I – I lo- I really like you so much, Pidge. But if you don’t want to be my girlfriend –”

“No,” Pidge interrupted. “I mean, yes. I – I want to be your girlfriend.”

“Awesome,” Lance breathed. He grinned giddily, gazing at her so intently that the young woman had to look away, even though she, too, was smiling.

Bella’s voice jolted the two back to reality. “Miss Gunderson, can we take Bae Bae for a walk?”

“Well….” Pidge looked at the papers in front of her, then at Bella, who was watching her eagerly, while Bae Bae pawed at the door. Lance started to shake his head, but Pidge agreed. “Uh, sure. He’s already been walked, but…...I guess he could use the exercise.” She got up and pulled on her coat, while Bella practically skipped to the front door and grabbed the leash she’d seen. After checking that it was securely fastened onto the dog’s collar, the three of them left the apartment and headed to the sidewalk.

“You _can_ just say _no_ to her, y’know,” Lance mumbled as they walked.

“Have you seen her face sometimes? Her eyes just go all big and round and…..I mean, even though I dislike the outdoors, look how happy she is,” Pidge replied, gesturing to the little girl, who was trying to walk backwards and talk to Bae Bae at the same time.

“Pidge, it’s freezing,” Lance countered. His mind was still at war. _Why didn’t you say it to her? You were_ so _close! Three words! And yet you couldn’t get past the word_ love.

Because if he did truly love her…….where would he go from there? He’d never felt this sincere about anyone before. Of every other girl he’d ever encountered…..she was in a class all on her own.

 _Maybe you should marry her_.

_What?!_

He stopped short. Marriage? Pidge? Would – what – how – could he? Would she say yes? And if she did, would she move in with them? But what if she said no? What would he do then? Would their friendship be ruined –?

“Lance?” Pidge noticed he had stopped, and was looking back at him. “Are you okay? Is it really that cold for you?”

He looked at her blankly, then shook his head. “Uh, well, not – not really. I was – I was just lost in thought.”

Pidge pointed in front of them. “There’s a park. Maybe Bella can play with Bae Bae for a while, so that they’ll both warm up.”

“Uhh……yeah, good idea,” Lance said quickly, setting off at a brisk walk, so that Pidge had to nearly jog to keep up with him.

He tried not to arouse Pidge’s suspicions as they conversed, while Bella ran around with her dog, but the question kept nagging at his brain. Even under his charming façade, it flitted around his head. And then he realized that it was playing on his fear again. That he didn’t want to be scarred by rejection.

Unreciprocated love.

And what about Bella?

If his….. _relationship_ with Pidge ended up fractured, would it affect his daughter?

As they walked back, Lance gently reached for Pidge’s hand, and slowly interlaced their fingers. He snuck a peek at her face, right when she decided to look at him. Her look of shock slowly melted into a shy smile, and he relaxed.

That was when they happened to run into Shiro.

“Hey, Pidge, and……..Lance?” Shiro said, looking at him with a surprised expression.

“Oh, hey, Shiro,” Lance grinned.

“You know Lance too?” Pidge asked, mildly stunned.

Shiro looked back at Pidge. “Yeah, from Keith, but I didn’t realize _you_ two were…… acquainted.” He happened to catch a glimpse of their joined hands, and his eyebrows furrowed.

Bella came up to him, interrupting his thoughts. “Why is your hair two different colors?”

“Bella…” Lance said in a warning tone.

“Oh, um…….because….I think it – looks cool,” Shiro said, restraining from the _real_ reason. He smiled at Bella. “Do you think it looks cool, too?”

The little girl scrunched up her forehead. “Um….maybe?”

Shiro chuckled, but accompanied them back to the apartments. As Pidge began to lead the worn-out dog and girl up the steps, Shiro pulled Lance aside. “Lance, can I tell you something?”

“Um……sure?”

Shiro’s face became serious. “If you hurt her, Keith will kill you, and you’ll have to answer to me.”

“I – what?”

“That’s all. Have a good day, Lance.” He went into his apartment, leaving the Cuban man confused and vaguely wary.

                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Months passed, and Lance continued to see Pidge. They managed to have a couple of dates, even though their work schedules weren’t compatible in the sense that they could both be free at the same times. However, he talked to her whenever an opportunity presented itself: at the playground on days she supervised, after school when she was in her classroom, and whenever she came over to watch Bella.

Pidge felt as though she should have been annoyed by the excessive attention Lance was giving her, because normally, if someone else had showered her with unnecessary responsiveness, she would have probably snapped after one morning without coffee. Even though Lance _did_ get on her nerves a couple of times, the thought of literally kicking him out of her classroom for some peace and quiet never occurred to her once. Rather, she felt secretly flattered that he wanted to spend so much time with her, and also amused at how they’d developed from petty name-calling to a full-blown romance.

Lance had now decided to ask for advice about his marital dilemma. He knew his family would most likely approve of her if they knew her well, but his first choice of consultation happened to be Hunk.

“Wh- Lance…….you’re serious? You want to _marry Pidge_?” Hunk repeated, his voice reaching a pitch, looking both shocked and overjoyed at the same time.

“Don’t broadcast it out to the entire world, yet, buddy……and yes. I – I do.” He paused, then his pent-up tension was released. “But what’ll I do if she says _no_? She might! Why would she want to marry _me_? I’m serious! I have approximately _nothing_ to offer her!”

“Lance. Calm down,” Hunk ordered him. “Come on, do you _really_ think she’d keep dating you if she wasn’t interested in taking the next step? True, it’s only been four months, but she had plenty of time to abandon you. And she hasn’t. And we know Pidge, she’s not exactly a player, Lance.”

Besides, Hunk was thinking that she really seemed to be having a radiant effect on Lance. He was barely wasted anymore. His eyes didn’t carry a deadened look to them, and he was cracking jokes more often. And it would be pretty epic if the two _did_ tie the knot.

He also (reluctantly) consulted Keith. “What drugs are you using now?”

“Drugs?!”

“Because you’re appearing less like Lance McClain and more like a normal human being,” Keith replied, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards.

Lance pouted. “ _Heyyyy_ ….”

“If you compare college life to where you are now in terms of love, it doesn’t quite add up. But trust me – you’ll regret this if you’re trying to lure Pidge into some April Fools’ joke.”

“April is next _month,_ Keith. And yes, I know, you and Shiro will beat me to a pulp.”

“Not only that, but Pidge will probably have some dirt on you that she’ll use to ruin your life.”

“Dirt?”

“She analyzes. It’s her specialty. That's partially why she's so enthusiastic about the Garrison.”

“Okay……..but –” Lance squeezed his eyes shut. “Do you really think that Pidge would want to marry me? Does she even want to _get_ married?”

“You’ll have to ask her yourself” was his answer, and Lance groaned in frustration.

He even went to the principal to ask about her.

“Miss Gunderson, eh?” Coran beamed. “Yes, she’s a very good teacher, academically suitable. Gets her paycheck every month, fair and square. Why do you ask?”

“Uh, no reason. Just……..wanted official feedback about my daughter’s teacher,” Lance lied.

There was a certain moment that almost completely convinced him. One night, they had somehow ended up on the couch, Lance’s hands on either side of Pidge’s head, and hips pinning her to the cushion. “Don’t get feisty, Lance,” she teased. “Your daughter’s still in the same house.”

Lance blinked, startled, then resumed his suavity, chuckled, and leaned towards her ear. “I guess that means no…. _getting wild_ tonight.”

Pidge turned a fiery shade of red, putting Keith’s jacket to shame. But then she _giggled_ , which was quite out-of-place, but seemed to come naturally when she was lying down. “Oh, gosh, Lance, we've never even –”

“Pidge – I love you. Like I've never loved anyone before.”

She stopped, because she’d heard him tell her that he was _in love_ with her, but expressing genuine feelings like that to her? There was a major difference between love and infatuation.

Love was harder to toss to the side meaninglessly.

“Lance…I love you too. In a way that I’ve – I’ve never felt before.”

Lance beamed, but his smile was interlaced with heat, and he bent down eagerly to kiss her again, and she found herself smiling against his touch.

That could have been the deciding factor.

But one opinion, of course, mattered above all the others.

“Bella?” Bella was sitting at the kitchen table, doodling in a notebook, while Lance stirred his coffee, trying to figure out what to do about April (a.k.a. Dreaded Tax Month). “Bella, would – would you like more house company?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, do you want someone else to come live with us.”

“Live with us?”

“Uh…..” _How to be inconspicuous, how to be inconspicuous_ …. “What if…..I….got – married?”

“Married?!” _Now_ Bella was giving her father her full attention. “To _who_ , Daddy? Are you in love?”

Lance gently smiled. “Yeah, beautiful. I’m in love.”

Bella squealed. She often fantasized about the fairy-tale romance from her books for her father, ever since she decided that he should have ‘a princess to fall in love with’. “Dad, when’s the wedding?”

“Slow down, Bella. I haven’t even prop – _asked_ yet,” Lance said, anxiety continuing to shift in his stomach. “But……would you like it? Having a woman in the house? Someone who’ll tuck you in each night and help drop you to school?”

Bella nodded, but her face fell slightly. Lance looked at her confusedly. “What’s wrong?”

“What about Miss Gunderson?” she asked. “I like it when _she_ takes care of me.”

Lance put a hand to his head and laughed in relief. “Hey, Bella………what if I told you that the woman I want to marry…… _is_ Miss Gunderson?”

Bella gasped, blue eyes wide as saucers. “No way, Dad! Dad, are you serious? She's my teacher! Are you joking?”

“Not joking, I promise.” Lance held up his hands for proof.

“ _YEAH!”_ Bella leapt out of her seat and started to bounce excitedly. “She’s going to say yes and you’ll get _married_ and Bae Bae will come live with us and she’s going to dress up in a big pretty white dress and –”

“Hey, hey, hey! _Slow down_ , Bella. Look at me. Listen to me.” Lance took her by the shoulders. “I told you, nothing’s been decided yet. I have to talk to her first, and then I’ll tell you. But I need you to make sure of this: **_Do not tell her anything_**. I will ask, in my own time, but Bella, _do not tell her anything_. Repeat after me: I will not talk to Miss H – _Gunderson_ about marriage.”

“I will not talk to Miss Gunderson about marriage.”

Lance released her, then gave her a big hug. “Thanks, _belleza_.”

“I’m so excited, Dad,” she whispered into his shirt.

Lance smiled. “I am too.”

                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~

_This is it, Lance._

He stared at the phone in his hand. Funny, how it’d been so simple to call her all those months, but now his fingers were so sweaty he could barely hold the phone.

He snuck a glance at the velvety box next to him, then looked away. His house was clean, his clothes were formal, Bella was playing outside, and Ivan the fish was dead (not so heartthrobbing. Even Bella barely mourned for more than three days). It was Saturday afternoon, April 10th. Even the looming threat of taxes seemed small and insignificant next to this. All he had to do was bring Pidge over.

Easier said than done.

With shaking fingers, he managed to dial the number, and listened to the phone ring for a few times before she picked up. “Hey, Lance. What’s up?”

 _Hey, Lance. What’s up_. His voice choked, and he swallowed three times before getting the words out. The words he’d practiced in his head for more than two weeks.

“Hey, Pidge. Uh, c-come over right now for a while, Please.”

Not what he was rehearsing, but it was better than completely clamming up.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“U-Um, sorta. Just….please. I need to talk to you.”

“Okay, I’ll be right over.”

She hung up, and Lance folded his arms across the table and stared at the velveteen box, shielding a silver band with a diamond adorning its center. Now _that_ had been a hell lot of money.

He was just really hoping it was worth it.

If she didn’t take it…….what then?

                                                         ~~~~~~~~~

Pidge gripped the steering wheel, worried. What could have been possibly troubling Lance? Could it have been about his daughter? He cared about Bella so much……..but judging by his tone, it was nothing serious, or else he’d have been frantically yelling at her from the phone. _I’ve experienced his yelling before_ , she thought, laughing a little. _And now…..look where we are._ Her brow furrowed a bit _. But – are we just going to keep doing this routine week after week?_ Truth be told, sometimes she wished for the amount of attention Lance gave his daughter to be trained on her. She was only _marginally_ jealous – because Bella was too sweet to truly hate, although she had been acting a little odd lately – but at times…….at times she wanted to be part of Lance’s family.

Which, in simple English, translated to _I want to marry him_.

Also which he seemingly didn’t want to do, despite their legitimate relationship for six months.

_Maybe he’s just waiting._

_If he is, he should at least know that I’m getting tired of waiting. Maybe_ I’ll _just ask him_ myself _next month or something….._

 _Wait_. She caught herself. _Am I seriously thinking about this? I haven’t even told_ Matt _I’m dating him, for goodness’ sakes!_

She approached the turn that Lance’s house infringed upon. She was on a road that almost directly pointed towards the houses along the main street perpendicular to it, and Lance’s house was almost directly in front of her, just a couple of houses to the left. As she approached the turn, she spotted a little dark-haired girl frolicking in the front yard with a Frisbee. Pidge smiled to herself as she slowed down for the stop sign, watching Bella. The girl spun around, flinging the Frisbee high into the air, before it whooshed down and clattered to a stop in the street. Bella glanced both ways before venturing into the road to grab it.

At that very moment, a car came into view.

The driver was speeding down the road, ignoring the speed limit, and one hand was tapping away at her phone while her eyes darted towards the screen, completely oblivious to the road obstacle in front of her.

Namely, a seven-year-old half-Cuban girl.

Pidge processed all this in two seconds. Bella was having a hard time lifting the curved-edge Frisbee from the gravelly road, and once she spotted the teacher in her car, she waved excitedly from her stooped position, fingers still peeling away at the toy, not hearing the motor of the approaching car, because the one near her was too loud.

It was a T-shaped intersection. The top line of the T had Bella at one end and the careless driver at the other, while Pidge’s road was in the middle, facing the ‘top’ of the T.

Pidge realized exactly three things as she stared at the speeding woman.

_She’s not going to see Bella in time._

_And Bella doesn’t see the car._

And the third was Lance’s words echoing in her head.

“ _I’d do_ anything _for her. I’d take a bullet for her in a heartbeat._ ”

_So would I._

And sometimes logic and instinct merge.

Pidge slammed her foot onto the gas pedal, and shot out into the middle of the street – right as the woman looked up from her phone and tried to stop inevitable collision. Bella finally took notice, and ran for the grass, choking with fear too much to scream, Frisbee forgotten.

The front of the other car slammed into the side of Pidge’s.

She could feel the seat cave in, jarring her violently towards the right side of the car, ripping at her already-frayed seatbelt, as the entire car _flipped onto its side_ , leaving the young woman dangling from her seatbelt for half a second before another jolt made it give way, releasing her onto the shattered glass of the passenger seat and slamming her body against the pavement.

It all happened too fast for her to let out more than a strangled gasp, but as with most accidents, she could almost pinpoint every single detail. But she couldn’t think. Didn’t have time.

Then her head hit the road and the world vanished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, cliffhanger;


	7. Ever After doesn't exist in real life, but maybe Happily does

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter! I really hoped everyone who read this liked this.

If Lance hadn’t been so occupied with his thoughts, he might’ve heard the dull thud and realized something was wrong. But he didn’t snap out of his lethargy until his daughter banged into the house and ran up to him. He glanced at her and then immediately sprang up from his seat. “Bella? Bella, what’s wrong? What happened?”

For the little girl had an expression of pure terror on her face. After fleeing the scene, she’d looked back once just in time to see the car tilt. She was gasping, trying to speak through her fear, almost as if she was having a laryngospasm. “D-Dad – the – the –” she tried, gulping in breaths.

Anxiety mounted alarmingly for Lance. The only reason she’d have for trying to speak like this would be out of horrified shock, like she’d described to him once when she had a nightmare. “Bella, _breathe_. **_Breathe_**.” He grabbed her shoulders. “You’re okay. You’re okay. Just calm down, and then tell me.”

The little girl swallowed air furiously, then she tried again. “Dad – the car f-flipped!” Her lip started trembling, and tears were forming in her eyes.

“Wh- car _flipped_?” Lance said in disbelief. “You _saw_ a car cr- accident?”

That was when he heard the sirens.

He got up hesitantly and crossed over to the window, trying to get a glimpse of the incident. Unfortunately, the house windows didn’t provide him with full access to the front.

Bella was still having trouble breathing properly, let alone trying not to cry. Finally, she shrieked, “Daddy, it’s – it’s _her_ _car_!”

“It’s what?” Lance looked at his daughter, who tugged him towards the front door.

“M-Miss Gunderson!”

Horror shot through his veins, numbing his brain and body momentarily. _No. No._

_She’s lying._

_She didn’t see clearly._

He stumbled over to the door and wrenched it open.

_She’s not lying._

A couple of neighbors were looking from windows, some actually opening their doors. An ambulance and police car were parked right in the middle of the street, next to the wreck. And in the midst of everything was the wreckage.

It was Pidge’s car, completely on its side, the driver nowhere to be seen.

_And there was no sign of the airbags._

He forgot to tell his daughter to stay near the door, he forgot to grab shoes, he couldn’t do anything but run towards the scene, but a police officer stopped him. “Sir, we can’t let anybody near the scene yet. We have to access critical damage, but if you’re willing to help shift the cars–”

“I don’t give a f*ck about that! Tell me what happened! Is she – is _anyone hurt seriously_?!”

“Sir, one of the drivers is in critical condition and is being escorted to the hospital immediately, but unless you’re family, we can’t really divulge details –”

 _I could have been_. Lance glimpsed a stretcher being loaded into the ambulance, and, with renewed energy, he turned tail and ran back to his house.

He only went into the house to grab his shoes, then he ran to his car. “Come on, Bella.” He picked up his daughter and buckled her into the car, before sliding into the driver’s seat. He pulled out of the driveway, swerved around the wreckage (it wasn’t fully blocking his driveway), and drove towards the highway, forgetting to slow down and check the speed limit himself.

Bella began to cry in the backseat.

“Honey, please don’t cry. It’s okay,” Lance said, trying to reassure her, even though his heart was pounding. It felt like it was slamming across his ribcage, and his hands were slick with sweat on the steering wheel.

“But it’s my fault!” Bella’s voice tapered into a mewling wail at the end of her sentence. She sniffed vigorously, and scrubbed at her tears.

“Bella, it’s not your fault –”

“Yes it is!” she wailed. “I was playing in the yard and my Frisbee went into the street and I went to get it but there was – there was another car and I didn’t see it but Miss Gunderson did and she drove in front of it!” She rubbed her eyes, which were now red.

Lance opened his mouth, then closed it. _She_ purposely _crashed her car?_ He bit his lip, then said quietly, “Okay. Okay. I understand, gorgeous, but next time – don’t _ever_ go into the street _again_. If you need something, just come and get me, okay? And it’s _not_ your fault. Don’t blame yourself. Accidents happen.”

“I thought I looked both ways, but I was so excited to see Miss Gunderson,” Bella mumbled, still sniffling. “Dad…”

“Yes?”

“Do you think that she’s okay?”

Lance clenched his teeth, still horribly afraid for his girlfriend. He hadn’t even _seen_ her to know how badly she was hurt. He prepared to give the girl a sugarcoated answer, but instead stopped and sighed. “I don’t know, Bella. I don’t know.”

                                                                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Pain._

_So much pain._

Pidge had a glimmer of consciousness, while she was collapsed on her side amidst the broken glass of the window. Dimly she registered that her glasses were crushed, her car was totaled, and her first thought was, _F*ck. I can’t fix this_.

Then the pain flowed in, banging around in her right shoulder, but absolutely _screaming_ near her right hip. She felt like throwing up, until it became so intense that she blacked out again.

_Bright lights._

_Clattering._

_Noise._

_Pinprick._

_Flashes._

_Silence._

                                                                                                              ~~~~~~

She finally felt her conscious self drift into awareness again. Slowly opening her eyes into a partial squint, the brightness of her surroundings confused her. Pain hailed her once again, but this time it was nulled in comparison to before.

Still, it didn’t cease to affect her.

She looked blearily at her arms, registering the fact that she was lying down, wearing a hospital gown, and an IV tube was snaking out of her arm towards a movable stand with an attached fluids bag. Her head hurt and her throat felt dry, and the pain dashing through her hip and shoulder were making her wish she was still unconscious. Her right arm was in a sling, and a compression pump was fitted on her leg.

She raised her head slightly and spotted a figure in a chair at the corner of the room. As soon as she made eye contact, he stood up, relief adorning his features, came over to her, and clasped her left hand. “Hey, Pidge. You’re finally awake.”

“Matt,” Pidge mumbled. “What….what happened? It’s….it’s Saturday, and my car…..”

Matt shook his head. “Pidge, it’s Sunday.”

“Sunday?” Pidge tried to sit up, but Matt gently pushed her back down. “You had a car accident. The car – from what I can gather – tilted to the right, and you fell onto the window, which is why you have all these cuts and nicks.” He let out a frustrated sigh. “I told you we should have replaced those _damn airbags_ , because now _both_ are faulty. Forget that, you need a new car. No point in fixing this one if it can’t even do its job –”

“Matt,” Pidge croaked out. “What’s _broken_?”

Because the agonizing pain couldn’t be anything else.

Matt looked at her, lips pressed into a thin, worried line. “You fractured your shoulder……….and your hip, because they took the brunt of the fall.”

“Hip.” Pidge let her head drop back onto the pillow. Her shoulder wasn’t an issue….but her _hip_?

“You had surgery six hours ago to set both bones properly, and you were given an anesthetic to keep you sedated, even though you were unconscious. I allowed it to take place, and you should be up again in a week or so, but you’ll need support to walk. Crutches might work –”

“C-Crutches? How –” Pidge stopped, letting out a shaky breath.

“Well…….at least you’re not an ambitious athlete,” Matt said, trying to get his sister to laugh, but she didn’t smile. “Katie…….what _happened_? Everything I know is from a police report, but it doesn’t sound right. Another car rammed into you, but why were you in the middle of the road…” Matt trailed off. “Did the engine falter?”

“No,” Pidge replied, staring at the ceiling. “I just…..hang on.” Her eyes widened. “Was – was anyone else hurt?”

Her brother shook his head. “No, even the other driver was fine. She alerted the authorities.”

She sighed in relief.

“Why?”

“Well…….” Pidge hesitated, then dove into an (vague) explanation. “I was going to visit…..someone, and I saw his kid playing in the street, and a car was approaching, but she didn’t see the car so I kind of…..shielded her. With my own car.”

“Slow down,” Matt said, still clutching her hand. “You got into an accident because of a little girl.” He creased his eyebrows. “That was…….certainly heroic, Pidge, but…..you couldn’t have – at least – yelled out to this that ‘hey kid, there’s a car coming, get off the road!’?”

“I was too far away from her, and by the time she would have noticed, it would’ve been too late.” Several things clicked in her head. “Oh, no…….how am I supposed to teach tomorrow?”

“Pidge, there’s no way you can go in tomorrow. I can help you arrange for a substitute to come in, and –”

“I don’t have proper healthcare! My taxes are coming up soon, and I haven’t even –!” Pidge panicked briefly, trying to sit up, but gasped when she felt a sharp jab of pain in her right hip.

Matt held her down by the shoulders. “Pidge, _calm down. I’ll help you figure it out_. For now, take a breather. You just had a major accident. Yes, there are going to be consequences, but right now, you’re not in a position to deal with them.”

“Your glasses……I broke them.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does! You gave me those before your wedding, before you moved out…..so I’d have a memoir….”

She closed her eyes for a second, then remembered something else. _Lance……I was supposed to meet him…but how am I supposed to ask about him now?_

Miraculously (or by the means of sibling telepathy), Matt answered her question. “You actually had a visitor….who is probably still out there, but that would make it close to......24 hours….”

“What? Who?” _I hate not being able to sit up_.

                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance would have been nearly asleep on his feet had it not been for his concern. After not being able to see Pidge when he arrived at the hospital, he had waited for four hours before deciding to call Hunk so that Bella would leave, and he could remain at the hospital. His faithful best friend, of course, didn’t protest once he heard the direness of the situation.

“Thanks, bud, I owe you one,” Lance had said as he passed over his sleeping daughter to Hunk. “You have the keys, so do you mind –”

“Grabbing essentials and letting her sleepover? Along with feeding the fish? No problem. And, Lance…….let me know as soon as you can see her.”

He’d nodded, jiggling his foot nervously.

Now he had his head in his hands, wondering when Pidge’s brother would let him in. “Only family right now, sir.” _Only family. Only family_.

The door opened.

Lance looked up to see Pidge’s older brother watching him with a quizzical expression. He jumped up, but Matt shut the door behind him.

Lance tried to barge past him. “I want – I _need_ to see her.”

Matt shook his head. “Not until you tell me _why_ you want to see her so badly that you’d spend more than 24 hours in the hospital.”

It suddenly occurred to Lance that his girlfriend hadn’t told her brother that they were a couple. He shuffled his feet a little nervously. “Uh, well……you see……the thing is…….we’re kinda……dating and I was about to propose to her,” he said, rushing the last sentence.

Matt blinked. “Wait. Did you say _propose?_ ” He was looking at Lance disbelievingly. “You’re – dating my little sister, and now you want to _propose. To. Her?_ ”

“Um…..yeah, that seems about right.”

“Wha- for how _long?_ ”

“Well, I’ve been wanting to propose for a little longer than a month –”

“No. How long have you been _dating_?”

“Since……” Lance did a mental count. “December. So….four months?”

“ _Four months?_ ”

“But I’ve actually known her for longer,” he hurried to add. “Much longer. I’ve known her since – since…….October. So…six months….?” That number didn’t sound much better.

“Six months,” Matt repeated. He stared at Lance for a moment, then quirked an eyebrow. “Don’t you have a daughter?”

Lance’s face darkened slightly. “Yes. I do. You met us at the restaurant that day. My daughter absolutely _adores_ your sister. And I’m a single parent, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He paused. “I also want to thank her. She _saved_ my daughter’s _life_ , and it’s basically _my_ fault she’s in the hospital. Please.”

Matt gave him a once over, from his now-rumpled clothes to his three-day-old stubble to the sincerity in his eyes, then straightened up. “The only reason I’m letting you in is because I’m pretty impressed by the fact that you sacrificed your sleep for her. Don’t exactly want to admit it, but I am.”

Lance smiled, relief washing over his face. “Thank you.” But then he frowned again. “How much are her hospital bills?”

“That’s…..not an issue,” Matt said. “You’re not entitled to pay.”

“I want to –”

“ _No_. I’m pretty sure she’s fine, and if she’s not, I’ll help her out.”

Lance pressed his mouth into a thin line. “Okay. If you say so.” He went again to open the door, but Matt stopped him. “Twenty minutes before I come in.”

“Twenty –!”

“And be considerate, please. She’s injured, remember?”

Lance ignored him, took a breath, and then slowly entered the room.

Pidge was still lying down, already bored out of her mind, but raised her head when she heard the door open. Her breath caught slightly, and a smile spread over her face. “Lance.”

Lance gazed at her for a moment, then hastened to her side. “Pidge……oh my gosh….” There were various cuts across her face, and his stomach churned at the sight of her bandaged arm. Her glasses were gone, which made her honey-gold eyes even more noticeable. “How do – how do you feel?”

“Like I just got hit by a motorcycle. So yeah, I feel _fantastic_.”

Lance put a hand to his head. “This is all my fault.”

“What are you talking about?” Pidge asked confusedly, a previous question dying on her lips. “ _You_ didn’t do anything. _I_ was the one who chose to wreck my car.”

“Which wouldn’t have happened if I had been watching my daughter, like I’m supposed to.” He plopped down in the chair Matt had been sitting in. “I’m a horrible parent. I’ve tried _so_ _hard_ to help Bella, to….make up for the lack of a mom, but….. I’ve just been a crappy substitute.”

“Lance! Stop it,” Pidge ordered, attempting to prop herself up, but hissing as another wave of cramped-up pain overtook her. She surrendered to her current position, and instead snatched at Lance’s jacket. “This is not about you being an incompetent parent. This is about me choosing to protect your daughter….because I love her so much, due to your _amazing_ parenting. You raised an _angel_. I mean, I can’t believe I’m saying this about a _kid_ , but sometimes I forget that she’s your child………and pretend she’s mine.” _Wow. I – I actually mean that._

 _You’re an angel, too,_ Lance wanted to tell her (but she’d probably give him a scathing look if he said something that sappy). He remembered his engagement ring, still sitting on his kitchen table. _Well, quite possibly the worst place to propose is at a_ hospital _, anyway_. _But still……_.. “You really think of Bella in that way?”

“I still can’t believe I’m saying this, but…..yes,” she answered softly, looking up at him. His heart thudded. _Snap out of it, Lance. Remember, she just went through a ridiculous car accident. Focus on her right now._

 _Not what you want for yourself_.

Pidge cushioned her head deeper into the pillow and groaned. “Man, everything’s so messed up right now. My job, my taxes, my life……I mean, how long am I supposed to remain in stasis until my hip is fully functional again? Or at least, until it can take the shift and strain of various positions?”

“Um…….I don’t know?”

“Did you even understand what I meant? _Meant_ , not said.”

“Yes,” he lied.

“No you didn’t,” she smirked.

“Okay, okay, I’ll admit I don’t exactly have a Master’s in Anatomy, Professor. So I don’t know when you’re going to be completely healed.” He glanced at her hip. “Do _you_ know?”

She gestured stiffly. “Shoulder? About two and a half months. Hip….four months maximum, but close to a year for full recovery.”

“Damn.” He swallowed. _Close to a year?_

“Life. Just when you think you have it all, it throws you a curveball.” She rubbed her eyes. “I’m flattered that you waited here for more than 20 hours.”

He chuckled nervously, trying to crack a joke. “Ah, well, y’know, just…buttering up the teacher for further bribes.”

“That’s all? Bribing a teacher?”

“You want the mushy-gushy stuff? ‘Cause I’ll lay it on _thick_.” He cleared his throat. “Oh, Katie Holt, _precious_ love of my life, it has been true _agony_ to see you here, pale and cold. I could not _bear_ to be more than a pace away from your beautiful form, and now that I’m here with you, gazing into your _soulful_ eyes –”

“Please shut up before I vomit,” Pidge interrupted.

“Come on, you know it was good. I did it better than Shakespeare could have.”

“That’s true. Because Shakespeare would never _read_ , let alone _write_ , something like that.”

“Yeah, because instead he writes about fishified flesh.”

“That’s taken out of context, Lance.”

“It’s the one thing that made a lasting bad impression on me. Do you want me to quote real Shakespeare? He had some good pick-up lines.”

“No, I don’t care about his writings that much.” She was quiet for a moment. “Oh, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“What?”

“What was the dire issue that needed my attention immediately yesterday? I mean, I don’t think I’ll be able to help with it now that I’ve become handicapped, but I’d like to know what it was.”

“Oh.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Oh, it was….nothing important.”

“Oh. Really? You sounded tense on the phone.”

“Weeeeelllllll……” he said, drawing out the word to stall for time. “I just wanted to have a – a formal discussion about the…… _potentials_ of exploring likelihoods that….could lead to beneficial outcomes, many of which – of which included strengthening _bonds_ , forging new ones, which…..could enable _compatibility_ between us two individuals and….provide a third party with more attention, whilst….merging and intertwining two lives.” _I’m not even sure what the heck I said, but I hope it was confusing enough to disinterest her. Hopefully she won’t pry_.

She didn’t pry…..because she understood exactly what he said. “Did you elaborate just to sound professional? And…….did you rehearse that before you said it? Because the Lance McClain I know wouldn’t have been able to pull off a wordy speech like that.”

“Oh, perchance,” he said airily, leaning a hand on her bedframe.

“You want me to marry you?”

Lance slipped, nearly toppling over the IV stand in the process. His face had turned red in the process, but he tried to excuse it. “Ha-ha, whoops, tripped! And I hit my cheek – both cheeks – so now they’re red….” He trailed off.

Pidge had also went vaguely pink because of her forwardness, but it started to die down the more she thought Lance hadn’t been serious. “Oh. Um, sorry…..I – I really thought that’s what – never mind. That’s stupid.”

Lance looked at her downcast face – and decided to take initiative. _No more joking around, Lance_. “No, it’s not stupid. I mean – if you think it’s stupid, then maybe it is, and maybe I shouldn’t say it, but – oh, you know what? I’m just going to do it. Pidge – Katie Holt, I’m helplessly in love with you, and I want us to get married. Even though we’ve only been dating for four months (and you never told your brother), I’ve never been surer about someone in my life.” Once again, the thought of his ex came to mind – but this time he brushed it aside easily. “I’ve seen how you manage your life, and how you treat my daughter, and….” He started to sweat when she didn’t say anything. “…..I have a – a lot of other reasons……”

“No.”

“N-No?” Lance felt his heart stop.

 _What? Oh, oh, sh*t!_ “Wait, I meant _no_ like I don’t want you to continue, not _no_ like I’m refusing!” she said hastily. “I’m – I’m not refusing!”

Lance took a deep breath, shaking his hands and fiddling with them. “Whew. Okay. That’s – that’s good. I – so – wait……if you’re _not_ refusing, that means….”

She bit her lip, trying to stop a smile from creeping over her face, but to no avail. Even in her pain-ridden state, she felt overjoyed. _I’m not hallucinating, right? I’m not imagining that Lance McClain has come to see me in the hospital and asked me to marry him_. She leaned over and smacked his arm.

“ _Ow_.”

Nope, she wasn’t hallucinating. But she did feel self-conscious of her dingy hospital gown.

Lance looked at her nervously. “So – does that mean –”

“Oh, Lance, do I have to spell it out for you?! YES. I do. I will. Whichever one it is.” She smirked a little. “But……don’t you think your timing is _slightly_ screwed up?”

Lance sighed. “Yeah, I had a ring and everything. I just – didn’t see this coming. Never actually thought a proposal would go like this.”

“Did you want birds singing, flower petals falling, and me jumping on top of you, shrieking the word _yes_ at the top of my lungs?” Pidge laughed mirthlessly and looked at her injuries. “Sorry it didn’t turn out that way.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. All I wanted was for _you_ to say _yes_.” He grinned at her happily, looking like a child on his birthday. He leaned over and, pushing up her bangs, kissed her forehead, then lowered his head until she could feel his breath against her lips, and –

The door handle suddenly turned, and Lance jerked away from Pidge to see Matt enter the room. Thankfully, the latter hadn’t noticed the close contact. “Your time’s up.”

“Matt, you gave him a time limit?” Pidge scowled.

Lance’s stomach rumbled, and Matt used that to his advantage. “Go and get some food, go back to your kid, and come again tomorrow.”

Lance obeyed the older man without hesitation, but at the door he stopped, a smirk playing on his lips, and called to Pidge, “We’ve got a lot of _matrimonial_ preparation to do when you get better.” Then he bolted before Matt could say a single word.

The pale-haired man stared at the door for a moment, then looked at his sister with a face that clearly said, ‘why?’

Pidge had many, many suitable reasons, but most of them faltered when she looked at her brother, and one emerged stronger than the rest. And when she told him (along with elaborations), he looked at her, surprised, then smiled, becoming a little more receptive of his future brother-in-law in the process.

“Because……in so many ways, he reminds me of you.”

                                                ~~~~~~~~~

Pidge was on Cloud 9 for the rest of her hospitalized time. Even though she was bored to death, the thought of Lance proposing to her had her smiling almost every night. (Plus, she managed to learn how to type on her computer with only her left hand).

Matt stayed with her a majority of the time, sometimes bringing Allura with him, but mostly supplying his sister with whatever she needed.

“It’s weird,” she remarked to him one night, as she was detailing a lesson plan to email to her substitute. Her cot had been positioned so she could sit up slightly without paining her hip, and her shoulder sling was off, even though her arm had to be restrained. “Normally, this is how I’d prefer to roll, by doing everything online: teaching, paying my taxes, even ordering nutrients. But now that I’m bedridden, I miss it – being able to drive around for a while, grabbing a cup of coffee, even taking Bae Bae for walks. I guess I just took the ability to have a perfectly functioning body for granted.”

Matt nodded. “Sometimes, we don’t know how good we have something until it’s gone.”

“Are you turning this into some sort of moral lesson?”

“One you need to learn, sis. And besides, it’s only one week in here before you’re home.”

She did have visitors to also quell her boredom for what seemed to be the longest week of her life. Hunk came a couple of times, bringing her delicious food to make up for the hospital's poor provisions. Keith, too, was there the second day, and she had to explain whatever she remembered of the accident in detail to him. She wondered, in the back of her head, if she should tell him that she was now engaged, when he brought up the subject himself.

“So, did Lance ask you yet?” It was clear from his tone that he expected her to know what he was talking about.

“Wha – you _knew?!_ ” she spluttered.

“He was pretty serious about it. I mean, he came to talk to _me_ ,” Keith answered. “But - I think he was just nervous that you wouldn’t accept.”

“Oh,” she said, instinctively touching the bridge of her nose – then remembering she didn’t have glasses to adjust anymore. “Well – yeah. He – he did, and I said yes.” She blinked, then realized something and glared at Keith. “Did you know you could have completely spoiled the surprise if he hadn’t?”

Keith startled. “Oh. I – I didn’t think of that.” He looked so comically confused, however, that Pidge let it go. “And……by the way, your dog is mourning for you. He’s being so lazy, I had to literally drag him out of the apartment by his leash so he could exercise.”

Pidge chuckled. “Poor Bae Bae. I miss him too.”

Shiro came, too, bringing some wonderful news. “The Garrison is looking for employees, so they’re accepting application letters with a reduced price. They have a shortage on personnel, so they’re finally keeping the cost low.”

“Really?!” Pidge almost dropped her tablet. “Shiro, that’s awesome!” _I have a chance! I could actually make it. I could finally work at Galaxy Garrison, alongside Matt! All I need to do is send an application_ without _paying the normal fees? That’s easy!_

“I’m letting you know ahead of time, because they haven’t made it a public announcement yet,” the man said. “But knowing your brains and technical talents, Pidge, you should have no trouble getting accepted. However, remember it’s only for a limited time.”

She laughed. “You sound like an advertisement. Thanks for telling me! But how come Matt –”

“I’m at a higher rank than he is. And besides, this is a pretty new decision for the company. Not every staff member knows yet.”

“Matt’s going to be furious when he hears that you said you’re higher than him.”

Shiro smirked. “In status – _and_ in height.”

“You better run, dude.”

And of course, Lance came over with his daughter. When the little girl entered the room, she glanced at the woman sitting in the cot, with an IV tube twisting out of her arm towards a stand, and shied away slightly.

“Hi, Bella,” Pidge said warmly, then frowned when she got no response. It was unusual for Bella to act so nervous around her.

Then again, the last time she’d seen her had been in the midst of disaster.

Lance rubbed his daughter’s shoulders. “Beautiful, look at me. It’s okay. She’s fine, and there’s nothing weird or grotesque that happened. You can talk to her. I promise, she won’t be mad.”

Bella eventually nodded, and timidly made her way over to Pidge. “Hi, Miss Gunderson. I’m – I’m really sorry about the accident,” she whispered, trying not start crying again.

“It wasn’t your fault……..sweetheart,” Pidge answered, and Lance smiled at her. _Dogs, and now children,_ she thought. _Am I turning into one of those people who fall to pieces when faced with the adorableness of these two creatures?_

 _Maybe_.

After Bella asked about what was hurt, what she ate, and when she was going home, she suddenly seemed to remember something. She looked at her dad, then she looked at Pidge. “Did Dad ask you an important thing? He said he was going to ask you.”

“Important thing?” _For crying out loud, did_ everybody _know about this proposal?_ She blushed. “Well – uh –” She looked over the girl’s head and Lance, who grinned embarrassedly. “Yes, he did ask me an important thing.”

“And what did you say?” Bella’s eyes were wide and round.

“I said yes.”

The little girl squealed. “YES! You’re getting married! You’re getting married to Daddy!” She started to bounce on the balls of her feet.

“Okay, Bella, try not to tell the whole world,” Lance said nervously, trying to calm his ecstatic daughter.

“When?” she asked her dad breathlessly.

“Huh?”

“When are you getting married? Next week? In two weeks?”

“ _Weeks_?! Bella, no one can get married _that_ soon. It could be – it could be months.”

“ _Months_?” Bella’s happy expression fell slightly. “But – I want you to get married in –”

“August,” Pidge interjected. “We’ll – we’ll get married in August, okay?”

“That’s –” Bella scrunched her forehead, trying to count how many months were in between April and August.

“A lot of time, but we need to plan the wedding, right? We can’t have a messy one. I mean, what do _you_ think we should have?”

“Hmmm…….it needs to be outdoors. On the grass,” Bella answered. “And you need a fancy white tent, and a pretty cake with lots of frosting and sprinkles, and tables, and food – Uncle Hunk can cook it – and…oh! A big pretty dress, and _I_ need a dress too, and….Daddy, can we go home? I need to write this down in my notebook.”

“Of – of course,” said Lance, who looked slightly scared of his daughter’s ambition. He gave Pidge a ‘what have you done?’ look. She shrugged. “Okay, let’s say goodbye to Pi – Miss Gunderson. I have to drop you off at Uncle Hunk’s house before I go in for work.”

“Bye, Miss Gunderson!” Bella reached over and gave her a hug, and Pidge wrapped her arms around her as best as she could. As she went to pick up her coat near the door, Lance leaned over and whispered to Pidge, “I _really_ don’t like your fake last name.”

“Me too. I don’t know, I think I might change it,” Pidge answered smugly. She leaned over and winked at Lance. He glanced back at his daughter, who was trying to pull her sleeves through her coat, then placed a hand on his fiancée’s shoulder and –

Matt poked his head through the door. “ _Hey_ , _Pidge_ , more _visitors_?”

Lance let go of her shoulder, and Pidge let her head fall back onto the pillows. “ _Wow_ , Matt. What an _oddly specific time_ you decided to show up,” she seethed.

“I’m very punctual, Pidge, don’t mention it,” Matt grinned, then saw Bella, who was staring him down. “Hey, there …….uh….Bella, right?”

“That’s _right_ , Mr. Future Uncle,” Bella replied sassily. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a wedding to plan.” As an added bonus, she _flipped her hair_ before promptly adjusting her shoes.

The three stared at her openmouthed. Pidge was the first to recover. “Perks of having Lance as a father,” she snorted. “ _Mr. Future Uncle_?”

“I have never before said those words to her in my life,” Lance swore, going over to his daughter. “Bella, that wasn’t very nice. I’d like you to apologize.” He gestured to Matt, who was now harboring an expression of shock and delight, though the latter was showing more than the former.

Bella, however, was unwavering. “But he interrupted your ki–”

“WOWEE, Bella, _look at the time!_ I think we need to go now. Bye everyone, we’re leaving!” Lance yelled out, practically dragging his daughter from the room.

Once the door had slammed shut, the dumbfounded Holt siblings looked at each other. Matt broke the silence. “I misjudged. His daughter’s a keeper. I have now been graciously dubbed as Mr. Future Uncle. You better marry him, Katie.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry. I plan to.”

                                                                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~

“Letter done yet?”

“KEITH! I’m trying to concentrate!” Pidge screeched, throwing a heavy pillow at him. Although the impact was strong, it didn’t knock him over – until Bae Bae jumped on him _and_ the pillow. “ _Ow_!” Disgruntled, he shoved the pillow and dog off of his chest, and addressed the animal. “I’m very glad you’re going to a larger living space with more room for you.” He looked at Pidge. “Pidge, I know you’re stressed about the wedding, but it’s not for a –”

“Month, Keith! August 20th! LESS THAN FOUR WEEKS! And I have to write a second letter, because the Garrison gave me this exclusive opportunity! They don’t give that out to everyone!”

“Funny, most women worry about their dress more than their job,” Keith muttered. “All I’m saying is to breathe. At least the rent was paid, right?”

“I never thought I’d say this, but that’s the _least_ of my problems,” Pidge grumbled. “Allura is driving me _crazy_ with this wedding stuff.” She gestured to the single crutch resting beside her. “I can’t walk on my own yet for more than half an hour without my hip aching. But obviously I can’t do that on my wedding day.”

“Install a brace underneath your puffy skirt or something,” Keith suggested, sharing a rare joke. But he went over to her and out a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Pidge. I’m pretty sure you’re going to have a great wedding. And I’m sure you’ll get that Garrison acceptance letter you’ve been awaiting….. Maybe you should marry that instead, though.”

She twisted around to look at him. “Who are you and what have you done with Keith Kogane? The Keith I know isn’t this easygoing.”

He smirked. “It’s something new I’ve been trying.”

                                                                                                     ~~~~~~~

“Allura –” Pidge gasped a little as she tugged at her corset. “It’s too tight.”

“Right, right, sorry!” Allura had been frantically dressing Pidge for over two hours, and she’d had to sit down so her hip wouldn’t start causing problems. She fixed the corset, then pinned a white rose into the shiny curls now adorning Pidge’s head. While she scrambled around for a makeup brush, Pidge looked at the mirror and took a deep breath. _I’m getting married. I’m actually getting married. To Lance. Lance McClain. I’m getting married to Lance McClain_.

“Lance is going to drop dead when he sees you,” Allura said proudly when she was done. “Figuratively, of course.” Pidge looked at her image in the mirror, and for the first time in her life, felt a flush of pleasure come to her cheeks.

“I think Allura’s right,” Matt said, entering the dressing room. He held out a hand to his sister while Allura slipped out of the room. “Ready, Katie?”

 _Inhale, exhale._ She nodded. “I’m ready.”

                                                                                                      ~~~~~~~~

Lance saw his bride and immediately lost all of his poise. “ _Mierda_.”

                                                                                                      ~~~~~~~~

“I have to admit, an outdoors wedding is not as bad as I thought it would be,” Pidge commented to Lance during the reception, as the two watched Bella frolic with Hunk’s kids. “I suppose it’s the weather. The sun’s not glaring as intensely, and it’s not too hot.”

“Yup,” Lance agreed, one hand clutching a drink, the other clasping his new wife’s waist. “But in all honesty, I don’t really care. I thought I’d end up stingy and particular on my wedding day, but……no. Guess I took happiness for granted then.” He smiled at Pidge, and she leaned closer to him. (She was actually using him as discreet support for her hip).

“By the way, I heard you curse before,” she remarked with a questioning (but playful) look in her eyes.

“It’s how I express _emotion_. You looked too beautiful for logical words.”

“For a moment I thought you were going to start saying them during your vows.”

“It seemed fitting. But hey, the audience isn’t all teenagers and adults. I have to watch my language, right?”

She snickered. “Right.”

Bella ran up to the two, a hand reaching up to adjust her tiara, while the other tugged at her pink dress sash. “Dad,” she panted, “am I allowed to go over to the creek?”

“Creek? With who?”

“A couple of the older kids are going.”

“I don’t think so, Bella. It doesn’t seem very safe. Sorry.”

Bella pouted, but looked up at Pidge and smiled. “Dad…….is Miss Gunderson your princess now?”

Lance beamed, setting down his drink and hugging his daughter. “No. I told you, you’re my princess. _Mrs. McClain_ ,” he pulled Pidge closer, “is my _queen_.”

“And you’re the king, right, Dad?”

“Yup. And I’ve got a royal family I wouldn’t trade for _anything_.”

                                                                                                          ~~~~~~~~~

“Mom, she gets to sleepover for a _whole week?_ And she won’t disappear in the morning?” The little boy waved his hands around.

Shay smiled. “That’s right, Rax. Just until her parents get back.”

“Mom wanted to send me to Uncle Keith’s house, but Dad said no,” Bella informed him.

“Who’s that?”

“He takes care of Mom’s dog. But now, the dog is coming to live with us!”

“That’s so cool! Maybe he can meet _our_ dog!”

“Maybe. I want to introduce him to Ivan.”

“He’ll eat him.”

“No, dogs don’t eat fish!”

                                                                                                   ~~~~~~~~

“I’m not hurting you, am I? Just tell me if I am.”

Pidge sighed. “Lance, I told you. My hip is _fine_. I can take it.”

“Precautionary measures.”

“I’m not a porcelain doll, okay? So don’t treat me like one.”

“Trust me, I know. You, Katie Holt McClain, are no china doll.”

She kissed the tip of his nose. “I like the sound of that.”

                                                                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mom, I want you to teach me at my school again,” Bella complained one night. She slowly slipped a tiny chunk of meat from her food and subtly fed it to Bae Bae.

“I saw that,” Lance admonished her.

Pidge looked at her daughter. “I’m sorry, Bella. But even if I was still at your school, I’d be teaching the other grades, not third grade. Besides, you still see me every day now, anyways, right?”

Lance sighed dramatically. “My wife, a leading technician at Galaxy Garrison, whereas _I_ await my own acceptance letter, all while still being a stinkin’ Walmart employee.”

“Did you hear that, Bae Bae?” Bella asked him. “Dad’s still a _stinkin’ Walmart employee_.” She giggled.

Pidge kicked her husband underneath the table, and he winced. “Bella, uh, please don’t repeat everything I say. It might not all be good.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

 

“I’m saying it’s a _possibility_ ,” Lance informed his wife later that night.

“That Bella’s going to end up cursing in front of some guy who’ll end up in love with her?” Pidge scoffed. “The universe isn’t that predestined, Lance. What embroiled us is different than what’ll intrigue her. Besides, she’s barely ten. _Please_ don’t start arranging her love life just yet.”

“Nah, she can pull that off herself. She’ll probably have a ton of admirers in middle school. After all, _I’m_ her dad.”

Pidge hurled her jacket at him.

                                                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re going to have a _baby?_ ” Bella squeaked, staring at Pidge’s stomach, abandoning her pancakes. “ _When?_ ”

“Not soon. Sometime in May, probably,” Pidge answered. She, too, stared. _A baby. Fascinating. Am I ready to deal with a newborn?_

But she felt Lance’s hand on her arm, and knew that whatever challenge or joy this baby would bring, she wouldn’t deal with it alone.

And neither would he.

Never again.

                                                                                           ~~~~~

“Wait……..so how is the baby going to come _out?_ ”

Lance choked on his pancakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry if I disappointed anyone with this.  
> If you have read this and also like kidge, my seven-chapter fic on that is coming out soon, so keep an eye out!  
> Might do some oneshot plance stuff too. idk.  
> Now this fic will get shoved to the back of the archive and no one else will read it. :')

**Author's Note:**

> So......new fanfic. Trying to make this one shorter.  
> Check out my old one (Two Can't Play at This Game) if you haven't!  
> BTW I appreciated everyone's comments on that so much!!!!!!!  
> THANKS FOR OVER 50 KUDOS!!


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